//------------------------------// // The Awakening // Story: The Six-Armed Stallion // by Steel Hearth //------------------------------// "Death to all who defy the Seven Deities!" Olga said as she grinned. If anyone was gonna put an end to Asura's madness, especially while he was weakened from his previous battle with his former master, Augus, it would be her.     "Your pitiful life ends here! DIE!!" and with that said, the overhead fleet of over one thousand Nirvana ships, released a hail of Hamaya missiles and bombs towards the Fallen One.    Asura looked up, wide-eyed and defenseless. There were hundreds of thousands of bombs about to drop right on top of him. The girl who had stayed with him after his second resurrection from Naraka was running to him, holding a younger boys hand and guiding him to Asura as if he was the only means of sanctuary. Asura turned around to run towards the girl, telling her to get back, but before the words could escape him, the bombs went off. Each explosion crept on closer and closer. Asura would never get to the girl to shelter her.    "NNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" he shouted as loud as he could over the nearing explosions before they caught up. Next thing Asura knew, everything crumbled before him and he lost all senses before being blinded by the light of a newly detonated bomb and crushed underneath a slab of rubble from a collapsing building. The whole village Asura had fought valiantly to protect from Kalrow and the Gohma was now completely destroyed. A product of the Seven Deities' so-called method of 'purification'.    Several moments had passed before Asura reawakened. His battle with Augus destroyed his gold plated arms down to sparking orifices and the previous battle with an entire army of Gohma left him weak. He struggled to push a rock slab off of himself with his back and stood up, gasping for breath. As he tried to regain his composure he looked around at the burning landscape before him. He turned around and scanned the surrounding area until something caught his eye; the little beaded hair clip that the girl wore on the strand next to her bangs was lying solely on the floor. His eyes widened. He looked around frantically for the owner of the clip and grunted in shock as he found her, laying motionless on the floor, covered in soot and clothes tattered from the destruction. The girl, who reminded him so much of his kidnapped daughter, Mithra, was gone.     Asura gritted his teeth. Something was beginning to burn within him. A feeling that was far from familiar to his anger. This was pure, unadulterated rage. He started to thrash himself around, growling and trying to pull a scream out of his synthetic lungs. The demigod looked toward the heavens, baring his teeth before his eyes glowed blood red, and found it within himself to do nothing but scream. And he screamed louder than he has ever in his life.     Orangish red molten energy started to emanate from him, and a beam shot out and into orbit from where he was standing. The more he screamed, the more powerful and bright the beam became, until it released a shockwave that destroyed all ships orbiting Gaea except for Olga's Septentrion cruiser and her fleet. Back on the ground, a luminescent, radiating monster stood in Asura's place. He'd let his own rage consume him, to the point where he wasn't himself at all. The real Asura was no more.                                                   .   .   .    Twilight Sparkle opened up the window next to her bedspread. As the cool noon breeze drifted in and brushed past her cheeks, she thought that she should go out for some fresh air. After all, she just couldn't stay in the library all day, and she had already completed last night's studies.    "Spike, I'm going for a walk," she reminded her dragon companion. He looked up with sleepy eyes from his bed. "I should be back In about an hour." Twilight giggled as Spike grumbled and rolled over in his bed. Last night's studies on astronomical physics took a lot out of her, but the very topic of space grasped fully at Twilight's interests. She'd only had 3 hours of sleep but was feeling lively as she always had since she's lived in Ponyville. What's not to love about the sweet, peaceful little town, she thought as she walked out of the Ponyville Library. Rainbow Dash was the first pony she saw, clearing off a few remaining clouds in the sky.     "Good Morning, Rainbow Dash," Twilight happily greeted her friend. Rainbow looked down at her as she was exiting the library.     "Hey Twi!" Rainbow said, kicking off the last cloud, before landing beside Twilight. "Did the new issue of Daring Do come in yet?" Twilight shook her head and giggled.    "I thought I told you yesterday that I wouldn't have it until the end of the week,"     The cyan Pegasus turned her head toward her unicorn friend. "Uhh, oh yeah..." she sighed. It had already been weeks since she read the last issue of the dastardly, adventurous explorer known as Daring Do. She was so excited for the next issue she could hardly sleep. "Well, when you get it, tell me." Rainbow Dash then spun to the front of Twilight and grabbed her face with both of her hooves, looking at her, snout to snout with wide eyes. "...And don't let anyone else have it!!" she said in a frantic whisper.     Twilight nodded at this before a beam of light brighter than Celestia's sun shot out of the horizon. It caught everypony's attention immediately, especially the unicorns of the town, as the spire of what seemed to be magical energy beamed far into the heavens and caused major disruption in the harmonic flow of all things magic. After her eyes adjusted to the intense level of light, Twilight saw that the source was clear; the disruption came from the area of the gem mines where Rarity was captured by Diamond Dogs nearly a year ago.     A booming growl was heard, slowly climbing to an awakening yell that sounded as if it was thirsting for vengeance. Large rocks and trees were being tossed about violently around the mines, but none landed close enough to do damage to the town. Everypony was watching in horror, some worrying if it was the return of Discord, or if some other horrifying creature was about to attack Ponyville.     "Twilight!" A voice called out from behind.    Twilight broke her gaze at the light. It was Rarity who called to her. The dressmaking unicorn had felt the powerful magical disturbance as well and stood next to Twilight and Rainbow.    "What do you think it could be?" Rarity asked in a concerned tone. Twilight formed a worried expression as she looked back to the town where mothers were guiding their fillies and colts indoors and shutting themselves in from the potential danger. "I don't know. And I wouldn't like to know, but my curiosity is getting the better of me."  Rarity nodded in agreement as they both galloped to the gem mines.     "Hey, wait up!" Rainbow Dash jumped back into reality, eyes snapping away from the now fading beam and joining Rarity and Twilight on their advance to the hills.