//------------------------------// // Level Boss // Story: Honor Above All Else // by Honored Service //------------------------------// Honor Above All Else Chapter 17 By Honored Service Nightmare, my friend, took a hold of my body and shoved the foreign nightmare off of me. The blade came out with a sickening sucking noise as blood flowed from the wound. My body convulsed for a moment and then stood still. “Okay Honored,” Nightmare said while grabbing the enemy’s hand and snapping it off, driving its own shadow blade through its neck and kicking it backwards, “You’ve got control. I need to rest a bit.” “Okay Nightmare, take a break, I’ve got it.” I stretched my arms and legs getting the feeling back into them. I looked down and saw the blood that had been gushing out of my stomach was stopping. “Nightmare what did you do?” I picked up my dropped sword and readied myself to continue fighting the shadow monsters that lurked around every corner. Well I gave us heightened reflexes and senses. On top of that you now can regenerate your body’s cells to repair yourself at an extreme rate. You should be stronger and faster. And the ability to control my fire is now completely up to you. “And when you said ‘he’s not mortal’, what exactly did you mean by that? I'm not a god thing am I?” A boom echoed through the city as another Nightmare meet its end at the tip of my sword. No, you're not a god. Just advanced? Yeah that’s a good word. You're advanced from what you use to be. Like on a scale of pony to alicorn you would be in the middle. Your life may be extended but not immortal, but it will take a lot more to stop you. “Like what? It’s kind of good to know what will kill you.” I ducked under a nightmare and kicked it up into the air and skewered it on the end of my ready sword. Well decapitation for one would end you quickly. Other than that your body should heal at such an increased rate that you should be fine. Three nightmares leapt at my head simultaneously. I fell backwards onto my back as the three goons crashed into one another. I drove the sword upwards catching all three of the shadow humans in the head, pinning them together. “TRIPLE KILL!” I screamed out, sliding out from underneath the dead trio. Oh it felt good to have power. So much power. All the things I could do. Nothing could stop me. I shook my head back and forth. That was strange. I climbed up the side of a knocked over building and looked out at the city in front of me. I was almost to the center of the city. My goal. So why are we fighting our way to the center of this destroyed slag heap? “Because of the power.” My head felt foggy again. “The power plant or some type of power supply station. The ancient humans had electricity, so hypothetically if it is still in working condition, we can turn the lights back on.” Sliding down the building front, I ended up on another street. This one wasn’t full of the nightmare. Yet. You do know it has been over two thousand years since the power has been turned on. “Okay negative Nancy, let’s try and keep some positive attitude here.” I leapt into the air and bounded over a large crevice in the ground filled with pitch black bubbling goo. “It’s a great day! The sky is… black. The birds are… dead… okay well the point is that I now have super abilities and a plan to stop the Nightmare. For good.” I had a smile on my face a mile wide. Things were defiantly looking up for me. A weird bubbling noise came from behind me. “Nightmare you hear that?” I looked back across the ditch but saw nothing. The other Nightmares must still be trying to catch up to me. I stopped and looked around. All around me was dried dead grass and weeds. I was standing in an open field on the side of the road. I kept the sword washed in flames as I moved around, trying to find the source of the strange sound. No, but I think I hear somepony yelling at us to go home and forget about this. “Not a chance.” A loud crunch sounded out from beneth my boot. Lifting the worn boot up I saw a white twig snapped in half. How weird? That stick was connected to other in the shape of a – Skeleton. I finally really stopped and looked around at the field I was in. Rusty playground equipment across the field, and destroyed burnt out slides lay scattered around me. And the white twigs littered everything. I was treading through a playground turned graveyard. I doubled over in pain clutching my stomach. “Ugh, I think I'm going to be sick.” The first bodies of ancient humans I find, and they’re children’s bodies. God damn this nightmare. My mourning was interrupted by the strange noise again. The bubbling continued and it seemed to be getting louder; I think. It was coming in the direction of the ditch at the beginning of the playground. Catisouly I moved towards it, sword at the ready to strike down whatever foul creature was causing that noise. I reached the edge of the ditch and peered in. Nothing but that strange pitch black goo. That black goo. “OH SHIT!” I jumped back, but wasn’t fast enough, even with my new abilities. A blast of the tar like substance smashed right into my chest and launched me across the field. I skidded across the dusty ground and came to a stop on my back. Shrugging off my backpack, I cracked my neck and readied the sword as I watched the ditch for the Nightmares to emerge from its dark depths. But I could only watch in horror as my good mood was crushed underneath a fifty foot tall black glob of tar the struggled out of the ditch. The biggest Nightmare ever. It took the shape of a massive blob with piercing red eyes. It stared down at me while I shifted uncomfortably on my feet. “What the fuck is that thing?” I whispered. Happy feeling gone. That is the collective consciousness of the Nightmare, minus myself. “TO YOU HUMAN, I’M YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE!” The Nightmare spoke in a deep voice that cut to my center and made my blood run cold. The blob shifted and collapsed to the ground where it began to shift and bulge as its shape began to change. I took a step back as its body elongated and shifted. The blood red eyes, not once leaving me. “YOU FOUGHT WELL, BUT IT WASSSS ALL FOR NOTHING.” I swallowed and found myself staring at my worst nightmare. A snake. And not just a little gardener snake. But a fucking massive, easily-could-eat-an-eighteen-wheeler-snake. This Nightmare had taken the form of a seventy foot king cobra, except I don’t think the regular cobras have nine foot long fangs protruding from its jaw. The nightmare snake hissed at me and coiled back, getting ready for a strike. I whispered some prayers and held the sword as steady as I could, but with my hands and legs shaking like leaves on a tree, it wasn’t very steady. “Ha. Is that the best you can do?” I chocked out. The snake gave a deep laugh and lunged at me. I dove to side and landed on my face as the fangs stabbed into the earth where I had been standing. I got up and ran towards the snake while it pulled itself from the dirt. I swung at the creature’s neck, but only hit air. It towered above me, smirking at my pitiful attempt to kill it. Well this went downhill fast. Keep moving, and don’t let the fangs hit you. They are tipped in the dark magic. They will have some negative side effects on you. Like not regenerating. “Well shit.” I side stepped as the head crashed down, trying to flatten me. “HA!” I yelled, and then got smacked by the tail and sent flying through the air, until I was stopped by the rusty jungle gym. “FUCK!” I screamed as I looked at my arm bent backwards and white bone sticking out of the elbow. I was about to give up on trying to fight this when I felt a tingle in my arm. I watched (and felt in great pain) as my arm twisted back around and the joint closed up. It felt like I had fire on the inside of my arm, and couldn’t put it out. “Seriously it feels worse than shoving your dick in an ant hill!” I screamed as the final burning pain died down. I looked at my arm and saw, minus the blood stained sleeve, that my arm was fully functional. I bent it and twisted it, and it felt alright. Still hurt like a bitch to regenerate. LOOK OUT! Jumping out of the way would be to slow, so I raised the sword above my head as the snake nightmare bit down towards me. The blade deflected the fang and chipped it. I watched as one of the broken shards of the tooth flew through the air and went through my left hand. I felt it as it ripped into the flesh and buried itself in my hand. Okay, the arm regenerating felt better to this. I couldn’t even begin to describe how the hell it hurt. Nothing I have ever felt, and I have been stabbed, thrown off a cliff, kicked, smacked, and recently had my arm broken in half, and all of that together couldn’t even compare to the pain of that small chip of dark magic tooth from the Nightmare. I held up my left hand and stared at the piece of smoking black tooth. Dark wisps of smoke rolled off of the wound. “Holy Shit this is getting bad.” I dropped my sword and reached to pull out the shard. NO! Don’t touch it with your hand. That will just mess up your other hand too. “Fuck me! Nothing is easy!” I slid Bad Bertha out of her sheath and pryed the black shard out with the tip of the knife. It popped out with a hiss and landed on the ground where it evaportated into nothing. I sheathed the knife just in time to watch the Nightmare rise off the ground and begin its slither towards me. Wait. No there is another way. “What?!” I screamed as I rolled to the side, barely avoiding another attack by the evil creature. “No really what?!” I yelled again as the snake bit down on the flaming sword and ripped it out of my hands. The Nightmare swung its head and the sword flew through the air and embedded itself across the field. Shit. I reached for my rifle, but as my arm dropped to my side where it should be, I looked right at it resting next to my backpack near the slightly destroyed jungle gym. “Give me a fucking break.” I drew the pistol and checked the clip. The last clip I had for the thing. But if the sword could fuck this monster up, maybe these magic rounds could. I hadn’t tried using the pistol yet. I took careful aim and squeezed the trigger as the snake attacked. BANG BANG BANG The bullets split apart in midair and all passed through harmlessly through the snake as it smiled at me. “Yeah, of course they would.” Wait, I think I got an idea! “Well please don’t let me stop you.” I jumped forward while drawing the knife and stabbing it into the snake’s neck. It plunged in to the hilt and drew black gooey blood from the wound. “Okay what’s this idea?” I asked again, trying to make another cut on the snake, but it moved just out of the way and swiped its tail at me. I jumped over the end of it, but was caught by the second part that sent me flying into the earth. Hard. “JESUS CHRIST TODAY!” I screamed as I picked myself out of the dirt and dead grass. My everything hurt like bitch. Ducking and dodging out of the way of the fangs that kept chomping down near me, I took cover inside a play slide. My breaths came out fast and ragged as I tried to recover and regenerate from this one sided battle. Even with my new abilities, I couldn’t make a scratch on this collective Nightmare. Alright, I think I can do it. “Think?” I stammered out as I felt a sudden power surge through my body. Yes, I think this might work. Like ninety-nine percent sure this will work and help you defeat the Nightmare. “Now I wouldn’t be looking out for myself if I didn’t ask about the other one percent.” I eased my way out of the slide tunnel so I could see where the snake was. It was busy obliterating what remained of the playground trying to find me. And slowly getting closer and closer to my hiding spot. Well see I'm sure it will work, but there is always the chance of… mhhmhmh. “One more time.” It could mhmhmhmh. “Okay, use your big boy voice.” There is always the chance that it won’t react with the metal and explode killing us both immediately. “Ah, so yeah, what the fuck is your plan?” I gulped as the snake brought its tail down on a tunnel slide, similar to the one I was hiding it, and it simply crushed in on its self. Fuck, I was fucked, and so would the rest of Equestria if I didn’t stop this thing. Listen, your left hand. “What about it?” I looked at it. It seemed the same, minus the hole in the palm from the dark magic tipped fang. It didn’t hurt, and I could hardly feel it, it was just a wound that would never heal. But it did look disgusting, I would need some gloves to cover it up or something, I would hate to scare the ponies with it. Wait, the fuck? Gloves? Focus Johnson, there is a fucking mammoth snake about to kill you. That hole in your hand gives me a direct open channel to your bone in your hand. “Okay, well that’s nice.” I poked the hard bone in the center of the whole. “OUCH” fuck I felt that. Goddesses you're thick. Think what is a unicron made out of? “Bone.” And what does the horn do? “It channels magic. Wait, are you telling me that –“ YES! Now you have an open channel to focus magic. No longer is it just a swirling vortex of fire around you, but you can also focus the magic as a unicorn does, Spells are now at your disposal. As long as I can do them, so can you. And seeing as that I'm a super being of destruction and evil…well not so evil anymore, but we are capable of nearly anything! “Hold on, you said the metal wouldn’t react and explode. What metal?” I looked at the hole in my hand and to the sword in my right. Only one way to find out. Draw that pistol, and lets go to work. “Once more into the breach friend.” I took out Spike and looked at the dented and scratched metal. I turned and gazed at the sword sparkling in the dim light. I sighed; this would either be a battle for the records with no witnesses to my awesomeness. Or I was about to explode in the most brilliant way and only the monster Nightmare would see it. And then the Rest of Equestria would be destroyed as the Nightmare plagued it. I’ll be right here with you Honored. I leapt out of the slide and sprinted straight at the snake as it bite into another slide. The sword turned into a blazing inferno as it wiped out in front of me. The pistol was out to my side and I brought it up, ready to fire its remaining rounds straight and true. The snake turned and smirked towards me. I smirked right back. I jumped up a collapsed swing set, and ran up the angled poll and leapt into the air flying right at the snake’s head. The world around me slowed down as I aimed down the sights of the pistol. The snake coiled itself around the remains of a jungle gym and hissed at me, tongue flickering out of its mouth. “Play times over.” I squeezed the trigger at one of its glowing blood read eyes. For a brief moment, the simple black pistol glowed bright blue in a holy light. Then it flashed and the gunshot rang out through the destroyed playground. BANG I dropped and rolled along the ground coming up with the pistol still aimed at the snake and the sword still on fire held above my head ready to strike. I stood opposite of the Nightmare, just waiting. The snake turned to face me, and black goo dripped from its obliterated face. The left side of its head was shredded. The new magic enhanced pistol and bullets had completely ripped the eye from its socket and sliced through the Nightmare’s shadow flesh. “Damn.” I whispered. The snake through its head back and screeched into the air, the scream nearly caused me to drop my weapons and cup my ears to reduce the sound. The black goo pooling on the ground began to shift and move as it rose up and formed shapes around the wounded Nightmare snake. “Boss level reached.” I said as I stepped back from the creatures that were forming. They stood on two legs, but had four arms and long bat like wings that exploded of their backs. Elongated and distorted faces covered in black sludge started at me. And top off these new horrific creatures, were four dagger sized fangs and piercing red eyes, like everything Nightmare. “So gargoyle-human crossed demons?” I asked myself as they circled around me. The big snake just watching from a distance. Yeah. “With black magic tipped fangs.” Most likely. ”And can fly?” Without a doubt. “Bring it on.” I jumped forward and swiftly dragged the sword across one of the demon’s neck, smiling in glee as its head separated itself from its body and the two parts collapsed to the ground. I lifted the pistol and fired behind me. BANG Catching one of the other demons square in the chest. The enhanced magic round punched through its midsection with ease and exploded out the back, showering its breather with black goo. The demon behind the first shrieked out as one of its arms was ripped off its body by the still moving bullet. “Sweet.” I side stepped while swinging the blade up, looping off another gargoyle’s arms and shoving the pistol barrel into a maw that was attempting to bite into my neck. I turned my head to stare into the gargoyle’s eyes as it whimpered around the barrel. “Eat it.” BANG The remaining gargoyle-humans stepped back from me as the body fell to the ground, black goo rushing forth from the stump of a head it had. “WELL WHOS NEXT? HUH?” I screamed at the creatures. “WHO WANTS TO KILL THE HUMAN?” “I believe that right is reserved to me, since I killed the last ancient human.” The nightmare snake slithered forward to rest in front of me. The goo had stopped flowing from the fucked up side of its face, but it hadn’t repaired it. I guess my magic couldn’t be repaired, just as I couldn’t fix the dark magic wounds on myself. “Well then come at me!” I threw my arms apart and stood ready to fight the massive nightmare. I was panting from the battle, and I was covered in sweat and dirt. I was tired of the killing, the death that seemed to follow me around, no matter what I did. Maybe trouble always found me, or its because I found trouble, but I was ready to end this nightmare once and for all. “So be it.” The snake hissed and lashed out at me. I dodged the attack by jumping to the right, swinging the sword out to the left at the same time, drawing a long gash along the Nightmare’s side. The snake jerked its head up and screamed again, fire blazing in its eye as it searched for me. Tongue lashing out, trying to taste the air for my smell. I opened my mind up completely and screamed, ‘Nightmare!’ What? Wait how can I hear you, you’re thinking, not speaking. ‘I'm opening up my mind to you, all of it. I have a plan and I need you to listen.’ Go, I’ll follow you friend. ‘Good, now this is what I need you to do.’ I explained the plan to Nightmare, and after a lot of persuasion and confidence, he agreed to the plan. It was dangerous, and downright stupid, and it could result in the Nightmare being taken by the evil-er Nightmare. But we could do it. We had to do it to insure the safety of Equestria. “Hey Nightmare!” I screamed at the snake as it prepared for another attack. I pulled back my arm and hurled the sword with all my might at its head, intending to deliver a fatal blow with it. I ran to the side as the Nightmare’s focus was on the incoming sword. I aimed the pistol at the side of the snake’s head, and began to squeeze the trigger. But the snake dodged around the sword and swung out with its tail and struck me in the chest sending me through the air, the pistol falling from my grasp and landing on the ground. I flew in the air until something sharp caught me. Shink I gasped and coughed as I looked down at the jagged piece of metal protruding from my chest. I was impaled on a metal pipe from the destroyed jungle gym. Blood squirted from the wound, as I struggled to free myself from the piping. The pain was intense, but I was hanging above the ground, and there was nothing within my reach that I could use to pull myself off the pipe. I was trapped by being impaled, and I couldn’t die, because the magic inside me was regenerating my blood and organs with a pipe through them. I was stuck, and in pain. The Nightmare snake slowly slithered up to me, with its gargoyle demons following close behind. It was smiling and laughed deeply as it came closer. With one final push, I tried to come lose from the pipe, but to no avail. “Well, human,” the Nightmare snake raised its tail and placed the tip of it on my stomach, right below the pipe sticking out of my chest. “It seems the end has come, and once again I shall claim the life of Equestira’s only human.” The Nightmare pushed in on my chest so that I was being pushed farther along the pipe. “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.” I screamed out as new blood gushed out of the wound and the new repaired flesh was ripped away, starting the regeneration process again. “Oh isn’t this what you wanted? Death to find you?” It pushed in again, causing more pain to rip through my body. Blackness began to creep into the corners of my eyes. ‘Come on Nightmare, I can’t last much longer.’ I thought, lifting my head to stare the Nightmare in the eye. “I can still beat you.” I coughed up blood and shuddered as the darkness crept back into my eyes. “Hahaha, I’m afraid you won’t be able too.” The snake opened its jaw and moved towards my neck with its giant fang ready to pierce my neck and put the dark magic directly into my body. “You're right.” The snake stopped moving and cocked its eye at me. “I can’t beat you, but Nightmare can.” I smiled, and the Nightmare snake gave me confused look. “What do you –“ The snake began to say, but was cut off by a clicking noise coming from behind him. Floating behind the Nightmare Snake’s head, in a green black glow, was my pistol. The snake turned back around to face me. “How is that –“ BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG click click click The pistol went dry and dropped to the ground as a cloud of black fog flew through the air and entered my head. The Nightmare snake wobbled briefly before dropping forward and laying in a pool of blood and goo. Oh it’s good to be back. “Good to have you back, now about this pipe?” I asked, struggling to speak through the pipe still causing me a great deal of pain. Yes, oh sorry. With a burst of magic, I flew off the pipe and landed in a pile of blood, black goo, and dead Nightmare snake. The back and front of its head was completely turned to mush. Nightmare mush. “Thanks.” I coughed as I sat up slowly. I looked around at the destruction and carnage that littered the playground. The shadow gargoyle-humans were slowly being pulled into the ground and turned back into the normal shadows around the city. I reached over the dead snake and picked up the empty pistol. I closed the slide and holstered the weapon at my side. I walked over the snake and picked up my sword and placed in its sheath on my back. “So how was it being in a pistol?” I asked Nightmare, while picking up my backpack. It was cold. And well, there was no one to talk too. “I knew you would miss me.” I smiled and bent over, picking up the rifle and slinging it over my shoulder. Shut up, let’s get out of here. “Yeah, I’m with you on that one.” I stepped out of the playground and towards a tall building in the distance. Um, that’s not really the way out of here. “I know, but we have one more thing to do.” The city was still destroyed and the building were still collapsed, but all around, the swirling dust and gloomy clouds were gone. The actual sun was shining down on the place. “We got to hit the power, just as a precaution.” Then let’s do it and get out of here. “Yup, on it!” I looked at my chest and watched as the hole finished closing up and now I just would have to get the armor repaired. Some good it was. Extra weight, but no protection from damn pipes. ***************************************************************** “So thanks to the Nightmare, you stopped the Nightmare?” Fast Skies asked staring at me. “He stopped the Nightmare, not me.” The human pointed out, while leaning back in his chair. “So he may have started the Nightmare to begin with, but he ended it. So let’s just say he cancelled it out.” Honored smiled and looked to the princesses for some sign of forgiveness. “He is still known as an evil creature.” Princess Celestia said. “And I’ll never be able to forgive him for what he did to me and the thousand years on the moon.” Princess Luna glared at the human. “He isn’t asking for forgiveness,” the human said pleading to the two princesses, “He just wants a second chance.” Both princesses turned to each other for a brief moment. They turned back to the human. “We will see, we would have to discuss much before allowing the Nightmare to live in pony society.” “The problem with that is that I'm a citizen of Equestria, and the Nightmare is a part of me.” Honored gestured his hands in front of him in a circle motion. “So you can’t punish the Nightmare without punishing me.” “We’ll. Talk. About. It.” Princess Celestia said through a cheesy smile. “So let’s finish the story please.” ******************************************************************* I kicked open the door to the old building that had a lightning bolt on the side of it, I was assuming that this would be the power building. “So we just hit the power and leave. Simple as that.” I said while searching the room I was in. An office of some sorts. But there wasn’t any power controls or anything, so onward to another room. But its never simple with you. I opened a door leading into a room marked ‘Power Room’, and was hit with a wall of blackness. A strange gurgling noise was emerging from the pitch black room. “WELCOME HUMAN. NOW THE TRUE TEST BEGINS.” A loud booming voice exploded forward. Never. Simple.