Chapter 13
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Roland placed Angel on the small bed and sat down beside her. He placed his palms on his face and pinched the bridge of his nose with a scowl on his face. "If I find out that Anarchy did this..."
"Calm down, Roland." Headshot said. "Getting mad over this won't help."
Pain went to Angel's side and placed a damp cloth on her head. "She has a fever. I'm not sure if it's magically connected but I'll try and do what I can."
Roland got up and left the room. Headshot followed him out. "Where the hell are you going?"
Roland didn't look behind and kept his graze forward. "I need to figure out what happened."
"Don't do anything stupid." He said and looked back to the infirmary.
Roland left without a word and headed to back to the Archives. He saw the book Angel was reading on the ground, a faint blue glow circling it. He picked up the book, it reacted to his touch and placed it on the table. He saw the same symbol Angel saw, he felt a bit unnerved by the symbol but flipped through the pages.
His lips began to move involuntarily as he read the words on the book.
"The valor of the leader, and the loyalty of the soldier. A man clad in crimson and black, led ones he knew from hell and back, Hunter, Brute, and Phoenix, followed the Soldier as he led the search for treasure. A man with the mask reaps their reward and takes the Soldier's life. But is he dead? This question lingered as his vision filled with light and darkness, a dead man, a scared child between life and death, barely able to comprehend what happened to his life." He read, he felt very uneasy as he flipped the next page to continue, but he met with the symbol of the Crimson lance.
He clenched his head, his eyes glowing a bright red, his heart ached. This felt like the times he respawned, only much more painful. His vision dissolved into light and darkness and several scenes flashed through the colorless void.
A young Roland, wearing a make-shift armor of the Crimson lance took out a small treasure map.
"Wait I don't remember this." The read Roland said as he followed the young boy.
The boy walked up to a house, his house and opened the door. "Hey, Mom?" He called out.
A pale old black women came out with a wrinkled smile. "Roland? Why are you back early?"
Roland smiled. "I just needed my telescope." Roland saw the old telescope on the table and grabbed it. He was about to leave when he turned around and faced his mother. "When's dad gonna come home?"
Roland's mom's smile faltered a bit. "You know your father works very hard as a Crimson lance officer."
Roland frowned. "Okay." He walked out.
The went up to an old tree house and took out his telescope. Noting all the landmarks and checked his map. He smirked and jumped down the tree house and ran to a random direction.
The real Roland followed closely, he wanted to figure out why he couldn't remember this.
The young Roland ran around town and finally found an "X" on the ground. He even got a self-narration as he stepped closer to the "X"
"The brave and handsome adventurer Roland steps closer to his prize and picking up his trusty shovel and digging. After digging for hours," which were only a few minutes. "the handsome adventurer saw the ultimate prize of all treasure hunters, the Vault." He said and pulled up an old pirate chest. He heard voices from nearby foliage.
"...And the brave group of treasure hunters closed in on the treasure marked on the map." He heard a little girls voice say.
"Hey, Lilith, do you really have to say everything we do?" An irritated voice said, followed by a small chirping bird.
"Don't be such a downer, Mordicai. It add suspense." A lower pitched voice said.
The trio left the bushes and stared, wide-eyed at the young "adventurer" and his treasure chest.
The four of them stared at each other.
The real Roland was completely confused by this. He never met the other until Pandora.
The girl glared at Roland. "Hey! What are you doing with our treasure?!" She yelled at Roland. The girl had short red hair with a yellow and blue shirt and jeans, on her belt was a bottle of bubbles.
"Your treasure? I found it first!" Roland retorted and pouted. The other two looked at each other in confusion.
"Yeah? Well, we have a treasure map!" Lilith said and showed an exact copy of Roland's map.
Roland took out his own map and showed her. "I have one too!"
Lilith deflated but still stared at Roland. "Ours is better."
The rather large and muscular kid chimed in. "Hey, uhh. What's is the treasure anyway?"
Roland and Lilith stared at the large boy. "The Vault, an ancient alien treasure chest that hold infinite wealth." Lillth started.
"Vast alien weaponry." Roland continued.
"Power"
"Women." Roland said and the other boys giggled but Lilith only rolled her eyes.
The one with the weird mask and the bird smiled with anticipation. "Then let's open the Vault already!"
The two arguing children looked at each other and sighed in defeat. Both of them went in front of the chest and opened it. The other two peaked in the gawked at the contents.
A few party poppers went off. "Congratulation. You four have found the legendary Vault." A man in a weird bunny costume came out of the bushes and said. "And you all will leave with the chocolate goodness inside the Vault, wrapped in golden wrappers and made from only the best ingredients, the Vault Choco keys. Congratulation!"
The four of them shrugged, and divided the Chocolate keys evenly with each other.
"This has been a contest from the Atlas Corporation, we hope you have a pleasant day." The rabbit man said and dissapeard back into the forest.
The rest of the day was spent with his new found friends in a game of tag, hide-and-seek, and sometimes more pretend adventures with each other.
The sun had begun to set and Roland bid farewell to his new friends. He made his way back home.
The real Roland was starting to remember and he wanted it to stop. "STOP!STOP!STOP!" He screamed as his younger self walked into his house, followed by his younger self's scream.
Tears welled up for both Roland’s eyes as he stared at his mother's bullet holed body.
The real Roland went over to the body. "I remember... I was weak... I blocked it out, this day... I forgot to keep myself sane, forgot my friends in order to forget this memory..." He looked over to his younger self and remember what he was thinking during the time.
"Maybe I should have stayed home? Maybe I could have protected her. Maybe if I wasn't playing around so much, I could have done something." The young Roland thought, and voiced by the real Roland.
"I was weak then... I chose to run away..." The real Roland said and saw his younger self run out the door and into the woods. "But not now... I'll remember you... I'll keep that memory forever... I'm stronger now, mom... I've changed..." He stared to cry again. "I've change... I'll protect those who I care for... I hope you're proud of me..."
Roland went back to reality. Tears stained the pages of the book as he closed it and carefully placed it inside his inventory. "I've changed... I'll protect her..." He said and started to walk back to the infirmary.
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Twilight, the young medical unicorn sung to herself as she blissfully sharpened her bonesaw. The song was being played out nearby.
"There's a certain hellish realm
Reserve for everypony who yells
They need the Medic!"
She carefully placed books on a nearby shelf and quickly turned to her next "patient", a Unicorn colt who was one of Anarchy's spies.
"Please, I'll tell you everything I know!" He yelled.
Twilight smiled, a sadistic sort of smile. The music was still playing in the background. "Oh don't need to trouble yourself with that, I already took the liberty and checked your brain, and you have no information that is of any use to me."
The "patient" was tied to a dirty operating table, complete with every kind of surgical(and some hardware) equipment. "Yo-you read my mind?" He asked with a worried tone. "Then you must know that I have a family!"
"Oh yes, a loving husband, a father of three. I was even thinking of letting you go free later." Twilight said. A small smile of hope crept onto the victim's face. "But... Then I saw that you are a loving husband of three, two of your wives think you're dead, and you physically abused your kids every day, that pretty much killed your chances."
Twilight brought down her bone saw’s blade on the poor stallion's arm. He screamed in pain as muscles and his bone were utterly cut in half by Twilight's sharp bone saw.
Tears and sweat poured down from his face. Twilight used her medical abilities to keep him awake so he can see and feel everything that is going on.
"Don't worry, it's only going to last a few hours... of agonizing torture, I mean careful surgery." Twilight said and grabbed a scaple with her magic and opened up his chest cavity. The stallion screamed, his vision was becoming very blurry but he could still make out the mare and the gaping hole in his chest. "I haven't done open heart surgery in a long time."
"No please, I'll do anything!" He screamed. Twilight sighed in annoyance.
"I really like it when my vic- patients scream, but since the NEIGHBOORS are a bunch of scared babies." Twilight said and took a needle and jabbed it in the stallion's neck.
His jaw began to feel loose, he could barely make any sounds.
She picked up a small hammer and SMASHED his ribcage open, ribs flew out and even knocked over a few books. She pulled out his lungs and carelessly threw it across the room. "Oh, don't worry about not breathing, I'm supplying oxygen to all your organs."
She saw his beating heart and dawwed. "Showing me your heart? How thoughtful. But I'm already waiting for somepony... He's an idiot." She picked up the scalpel and cut off the arteries and picked up the heart.
There was a trio of knocks on the door. Twilight threw the heart into the trash bin and turned off the music, she went up the stairs to the main floor and opened the door.
"Hello, Twilight." The mayor said with a smile. "Just dropping by to see what's going on."
"Hi, Brick. Not much, just killing some time, what do you need?" She said and motioned him inside.
Brick sat down on a nearby chair and rubbed his temples. "We got a big problem, Twi."He sighed and dropped his head on the table. "Remember the Diamond Dogs? Well, they got numbers and weapons, given by an anonymous donor."
Twilight levitated two cups and a teapot and set it down on the table. She poured the mayor some tea and some for her. "I'm sure we could beat them easily."
"Yes, we can, but... We need to find out who the hell giving out weapons to a bunch of bitches, and we can't do it when we're defending the town." Brick said and sipped his tea. "I swear, everypony here is useless."
"What kind of weapons are we talking about here?" Twilight asked and pulled out a book about weapons. "Maybe there's something we can do to counterattack."
"That's just it, they got heavy explosives, guns, heck even a fully armed airship and two battle tanks. Somepony or something wants Ponyville wiped off the map." Brick said and pulled out a few photos, all showing the enemy's weaponry.
Twilight sighed. "What a time for Firecracker, Headshot, and Rum Cake to be out of town."
"One out of three ain't bad... I think?" A voice from the doorway said. "Oy, did'ja forget about me?" A dark colored stallion said, a very bad tropical t-shirt. His Cutie-mark was a cake with a few cherries with fuses on them. "Ponyville's prestiged Demolitions, right here, lads and lasses."
"Uncle Rum!" Twilight yelled and ran over to the, somewhat drunken stallion and gave him a friendly hug.
"Twily, nice te see ya again, lass." They broke away from their hug and went to the table. "Already got wind of what's happening here. I've already set up shop around Ponyville."
"How much?" Brick asked.
"Just a few... hundred stickies here and there."
Brick smiled at the Demo. "Great to have you back."
"Meh, I've been better."
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Blueblood...
Blueblood...
Blueblood...
BLUEBLOOD!!!
Blueblood stirred in his sleep, all the nightmares he went through, he will remember. He slowly opened his eyes and his vision filled with the light from the library.
"See, Porom, I told you he was fine." An old elderly looking Unicorn said.
"You said it would only be an hour." Porom said to the old stallion.
"Yes, and it's only been an hour and thirty minutes." The stallion said.
Blueblood got up and looked around. Everything was normal, no twisting booksleves, no flying books, no flat or floating tables. And then he suddenly remembered why he needed to find his master. "Thanks, Porom, but I really need to go, my master is in danger." He said and muttered under his breath. "If he's still alive."
He got up and ran out the door. Porom was following closely behind, he stopped and turned around. "Why are you following me?" He asked.
"Well, I think you need to rest, but I don't think I could convince you to relax, and besides, I'm looking for my idiot brother." She said and smiled. "Probably off with some cute filly."
Blueblood sighed. "Don't, it's dangerous. Please just go back."
"Dangerous? All the more reason for me to go with you. You may need my help." She said and went on ahead. Blueblood looked at the running filly and sighed, he ran after her.
The two of them found themselves in a nearby park. There was a magical competition nearby and they decided to look into it.
On the stage was a young colt that somewhat looked like Porom and a marshmallow colored Pegasus with a white mask.
"PALOM!" Porom yelled and pulled her brother down from the stage. Blueblood looked around and saw Shade stare at him, both of them stared for a long time, time seemed to freeze as both of them locked eyes.
Blueblood felt a large headache come on but he couldn't turn away, like he was being forced to stare at him. And in a blue blur, Shade was tackled to the ground.
Blueblood shook off the daze and ran to his master's side, only to be knocked back by the incredible magic that was happening between the two. The spectators panicked and ran, a few tried to help but only got knocked back.
Starswirl sent bolt after bolt at Shade, but each hit only seemed to slow him down, but not hurt him. Blueblood tried to use something else to help, he looked at his bracelet and necklace and got an idea.
Porom healed anypony that got hit in the crossfire, but she could only do so much. "SIS! What is going on!" Porom yelled, Cotton cloud clinging next to him.
"I don't know!" She replied and continued to heal the wounded. Those that could run away did just that.
Blueblood ran toward the other foals and took Porom's hoof. "I need your help!" He said and pulled her towards the fight.
"HEY!" Porom yelled and ran after his sister.
"Blue! What's going on?" She asked.
"No time. Do you know any shield spells?" He asked. She nodded. "Good, help me with this." His necklace and bracelet began to glow, several spikes of rocks shot up from the ground. The spikes launched itself towards Shade, but he just shrugged it off. "POROM, NOW!" Her was shocked for a moment but quickly got out of it and used her horn to create a shield spell.
Shade launched a few tentacles at Blueblood. The colt raised more rocks, but it didn't even slow the tentacles down. They broke through the defenses and painfully shattered the shield.
Blueblood forced some more power unto his bracelet and necklace and used the extra power to rip off the tentacle.
Shade sent another tentacle toward Porom. She screamed. Her brother saw that his sister was going to be die right in front of his eyes.
And then blackness, nothing, no pain, no feelings, no anything. She opened her eyes to see Blueblood, taking the entire tentacle for her. Blood oozed from his mouth, the tentacle went deeper into his gut as his body slowly became limp.
"NOOOO!" Starswirl yelled and casted his most powerful spell in his arsenal. Giant fireballs came hurdling down from the sky, each one hitting their target with pin-point accuracy.
Dust covered the battlefield and it slowly settled. There were no traces of Shade anywhere. Starswirl ran over to his young apprentice's side.
"Colt, wake up! Wake up! Dammit!" Each word sounded more desperate than the one before.
Porom looked at the dead body and cringed. He saved her life, and she didn't even get a chance to say thank you.
"Well, well, this is very touching." Shade's voice said from around them. "But you only managed to defeat a mere clone. I though you would have been a better challenge, my friend."
Starswirl looked around and saw none of Shade's magical energy. Yes, he was still alive, but he was weak and he wouldn't be able to get here in time. Yes, he had to do it.
His horn glowed a bright blue and then red. The wounds on the colt's body began to seal itself, each muscle and skin closed in on each other. The body was healed but his soul was gone.
Starswirl's eyes went white and everything he saw dissolved as the face of death stared at him with a curious glance.
"Yes, I'll trade my life for the boy." He said to the black coated skeleton.
It only stared at him for a short while, giving a silent conversation.
"Yes, I'm sure." As he said those words, he felt his heart stop, his lungs didn't fill with air. Everything stopped, his entire life flashed before his eyes.
Celestia, Luna, Shade, Sombre, and his failure of a spell that gave them the curse of immortality. And now the young colt, he saw his eyes open slightly as the sunlight poured into his vision. At least I did something right.
He used his last bit of energy to teleport the four foals to the safehouse. He laughed to himself.
"I guess it's time to meet up with ol' Sombrero." And with that he fell to the ground.
The four foals looked around, the room was just a normal room to the others, but for Blueblood, it was a fortress that rivaled even Canterlot Castle.
He ran to one of the bookshelves. "Hey, lock the doors." He said and pulled a, seemingly random book and the walls flipped over. The walls were lined with books from all ages, from pre-Equistrian times to Anarchy's reign. He took his saddle-bag that was hanging on the wall and quickly took several books from every era.
Porom was the only one who nodded and went over to the doors and locked them. She was confused on why he was still alive but she was happy all the same.
The other two only stared at him as he tore down a large staff on the wall. He motioned them to follow him into a large room.
"Hey! Wait a minute! Do you think we're just going to follow you? You're crazy! Let's go, sis." Palom said and grabbed both his sister and Cotton by the hooves.
"He saw you, all three of you are being hunted." Blueblood said and pulled out the book he got from the library. He flipped it over the Slenderpony's page. "Slenderpony is a immortal monster that steals the souls of everything that ever looked at him. Right now, he was weaker, but there is no denying it, that was him."
"Slenderpony? That's just a myth." Palom said. Porom let go of his hoof and ran to Blueblood's side.
"Umm..." Cotton said, but nopony seemed to hear her.
"Was that fake? My master is dead, and if there was one thing he taught me before everything else was to keep calm, and right now, I'm on the verge of breaking down in tears because the one pony that ever cared for me is dead, and I will not have another dead body on my hooves." Blueblood said in an eerily calm tone.
Palom stepped back slightly. "But I can take him, I'm gonna be the world's greatest mage ever!"
"Umm... Guys..." Cotton repeated, but still nopony heard her.
"That thing killed the greatest mage in all time. Starswirl never passed away, he was immortal and now he killed him, that thing killed the greatest Unicorn of all time." Blueblood still was talking very calmly, each word seemed devoid of emotion. "I died there, and he brought me back, I intend to do what he wanted me to do."
"Guys..."
"What do you expect us to do? Follow you to hell and back?"
"GUYS! We have company!" Cotton yelled and all three of them looked out the window.
They all stared at pale white pony with a black mane and a creepy smile that looks like it was cut there. "Oh, crap..." Blueblood said, all of them just stared at each other before going back to the creepy stallion.
"What the hell is that?" Palom asked.
"Jeff got out... Just follow the passage down... And please, for the love of Luna, do not open any of the cages, even the ones that look like their isn't anything in there. I'll meet up on the other side." Blueblood said and pulled a lever that leads down to the celler.
The others nodded and ran down the stairs.
"Hey, Jeff... Why don't you just go to sleep for a while?"
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Altair headed out with his disabled partner. They slowly made their way to the old military facility.
"Remember the last time we were here?" Storm asked.
"I try not to." Altair replied, keeping his gaze directly at the base.
"That's rude. Our brothers and sisters died here and you don't want to remember them." Storm said, the young grey pegasus scoffed.
"I don't want to remember the place, only the faces." Altair said and cringed at the memories that came flooding back. "And now here we are, going in there to rescue a friend of the brotherhood."
"The Redwings are going to kill us if they find us." Storm said.
"Kill ME, you're not going in there, you're providing cover with sniper support."
She rolled her eyes at the stallion. "Fly me up there, I'm in a wheelchair." Storm smiled at the assassin.
"Right," Altair grabbed hold of her and both of them quietly made their way to a large storm cloud. Altair dropped her off and nodded. He flew down and stared at the entrance.
"Best find another way in." He said and went around the compound.
Right, just like old times.