//------------------------------// // Chapter 55: From the Flames of Hell // Story: Bounty Hunters 3: Genesis // by Jasper77W //------------------------------// "Mom! Dad!" Somepony was screaming, with a voice that was very, very familiar. "Mom! Dad!" Valkyrie frowned. Where was she? She could feel the cold concrete floor pressed against her chin as she struggled to look up, and she could feel a slight bruise on her shoulder. Odd, one- that bruise would've healed already, and two- that's where her shoulder plate should be for her left metal arm. "MOM! DAD!" The voice yelled out again, followed by a whimper. Then Val realized it was herself. Focusing, her eyes rested on two figures- both slowly walking away from her, their backs only different shades of light as their silhouettes grew smaller and smaller in the distance. The sky was blue- a cloudless, emotionless blue. For some reason she desperately wanted to follow the two figures. To chase after them and hug them. Or maybe for them to at least turn around. She tried to move her legs, but with a panic realized she couldn't. She struggled to look behind her at her back legs. They were a dark shade of grey, same as her skin. No robotic parts. No augmentations. And completely disabled. She willed them to move, her heart racing as the silhouettes continued their retreat into oblivion. She was crying, screaming and thrashing, trying to claw her way forwards and catch up using her front hooves. "Mom! Dad!! WAIT!! DON'T LEAVE ME HERE!!" She cried, reaching out as if maybe she could get them to come back. "Please... Don't leave me alone... I don't want to be alone..." Her hoof dropped as every bit of energy was sapped from her body, and she curled up on the floor in a useless heap. Suddenly there was a loud bang. A gunshot. It echoed across the entire rooftop that she was on, making her suddenly sit up to attention- and horror. A bullet had come out of nowhere and ripped through the chest of the pony on the right- recognized by her as her mom from the long flowing mane as she stumbled a bit, blood falling to the floor and turning it red. The scene was all too familiar. A figure strode into view, with a distinct short cut mane which Val recognized in the mirrors. Blue lights glowed all over her body, and she seemed to have hands instead of front hooves. One was holding a gun, and the other- a knife. Then before Val could give out a warning, the figure had already sunk the knife into her mother's skull, cracking it down and snapping her neck. Together with the knife, the figure flung her mom's dead body across the roof, where it rolled to a stop and never moved again. "MOM!!" Val screamed, fighting to stand up and run over there before the figure could harm her dad- but it was way too late for that. With her paralyzed legs, she'd never have made it anyways. Her dad didn't resist or fight. The figure slammed the handle of the pistol against his head, knocking him down- but he was still conscious as the figure took aim at his damaged skull. But even with his fading breath, he still met his murderer-to-be with a smile on his face, however a weak one it was. A loving smile, one a father would give to any daughter. Even when that daughter had a gun pointed at his forehead. "We still love you Blithy. No matter what. That would never change." He said, and with a loud bang his brain splattered across the floor behind him, a thud that followed signaling his death as his body fell to the ground. The figure let the pistol drop. At some point it had started raining. Val was screaming. She didn't know what. Just screaming. Then she woke up with a jolt, her breathing unusually paced. There was a cold sheen of sweat covering her body as her fingers dug into the arm rests of her throne, almost cracking the material. She could feel something cold dripping down her face, and her racing heart suggested they were tears. She wasn't scared of the figure in her nightmare. She wasn't afraid of anything- but somehow it was still a nightmare. "Son of a mule..." She muttered, standing up and covering her face, also wiping the tears away. The figure was herself, doing exactly what she did after mom and dad left her there to die. And dad really did say that phrase- the only phrase that made doubt linger in Val's mind. "We still love you Blithy." It repeated in her head. "DAMNIT! I'M VALKYRIE!!" Val yelled, ripping an arm rest off of the throne and casting it across the room where it bounced into the far door with a loud crack. She was breathing quite heavily for such an effortless throw, her shoulders and chest heaving. "Hmmm?" Blithy yawned. Looks like she was asleep the entire time. Val shook her head, sitting back down. She needs to calm herself- these memories were like claws raking at her brain. "Bloody hell..." She muttered, burying her face in her hands. Then she started chuckling, her much more normal side fading away as the real Val re-emerged. "Hahaha. Look at me. Having a nightmare." And being scared an awful lot by it too, she noted mentally. She sighed, Blithy drifting back off to sleep again next to her on the ground. She looked down, a brief moment of peace flashing across her face as she watched her former self snore softly under the artificial sunlight cast onto them from the huge screen at the back. After the nightmare, she felt oddly cold despite the comfortable ventilation in the throne room. Something that was always there, just something she refused to acknowledge the existence of. Just one of the many things she chose to ignore. The vast emptiness of the throne room added to her discomfort. Meters upon meters of nothingness, stretching out before and above her to the far doors and the ceiling, just pure ego that served no purpose. She remembered the events back in her nightmare, which were exactly the same as they were all those years ago... When mom and dad turned their backs on her... The coldness that seeped through her skin and into her heart. At that moment all she ever wanted and needed was a hug. Just a bit of comforting warmth. Just a bit of love. She was unaware of herself tucking her knees up to her chest as she curled up on her throne, wrapping her arms around them and burying her chin in her arms. An unconscious move to maybe warm herself up a little... But to no avail. Physical warmth wasn't what she needed. She felt something trickling down her cheeks. She was used to the sensation of her own blood dripping and crawling across her skin, but this was cold. Nothing warm like her blood. Her shoulders were shaking, as she came to notice. She could feel the irregular pace in her breathing. She was crying. Just like any other pony, just like any other mortal- she was crying. Just like any other kid that lost her parents. Just crying. * Doctor Whooves awoke with a start. He was in a hospital ward- the last time he drifted off to sleep on the back of a speeder. This must be Haven then. But he didn't smile at the new environment around him like he usually would have. Because he was in a hospital, a medical center; and it was flooded with injured and wounded ponies who were being treated all around him. He watched as a pony with half her side missing was wheeled in, miraculously still alive. Another with a shattered skull. Another with three missing limbs. "Doctor..." He heard a familiar voice say next to him. He turned, facing his cross-eyed companion. "Morning." He said, trying to get up, his head throbbing and still half asleep. "Doctor! You're hurt." Derpy said, placing a hoof on his shoulder. The weight of that hoof alone was enough to keep his weak body down. "Thyme says you should rest up. She told me to 'keep an eye on you', and 'keep him where he is'." "Derpy-" the Doctor said urgently. Something felt off about the entire situation- the war, the decades before it- they were missing something. "I have to speak with Applebloom. Or Spitfire. Or one of the commanders." He said, but he could feel himself drifting out of consciousness. What was causing this, he didn't know for certain- but he could almost feel the drugs being pumped through his body to keep him recovering. "They're all out at battle, nopony's here." Derpy said. "Damnit- something's not right! We're missing something- like a piece of the whole picture- Val's hidding something and we don't know what..." His eyes rolled back into his head for a second, and he was almost knocked out completely- but he was back in a split second. "Crap- wow, wow- what was that?" He exclaimed weakly. "Doctor?" "Derpy?" The Doctor cocked his head to one side. "Um... You were going to tell me something... Or tell me to tell someone else something..." Derpy's eyes seemed to cross away from each other even more than they usually did. "Um, I don't know anymore." "Sorry Derpy... I'm just so tired..." The Doctor said, letting his head drop back down onto the pillow. "But you said it was something important..." Derpy said, but miraculously the Doctor had already drifted back off to sleep. "Doctor." She muttered unhappily and frustratedly, crossed eyes narrowing into a frown. * "They're retreating." Terra said, his hoofsteps thumping down as he walked up next to Neon to join her on the edge of the cliff. They watched the battle rage on below, between a division of the Haven forces and a science faction outpost. "They're abandoning the outpost." Neon observed as the Haven troops flooded into the base, flushing out the science faction troops who were fleeing with their tails between their legs. "Odd." Terra cocked his head to one side. "They're heading for Valhalla." "Home base. Probably an order issued from Valhalla so they could reinforce the city. Makes sense- but they're just going to abandon everything else?" Neon nodded, arms folded. "Odd indeed." "Bomb squad. Search the base and make sure it's safe, then we can take over." Terra spoke into the mic, not taking his eyes off the small base of operations. "Seems a bit too easy." Terra and Neon were leading two battalions towards the south, and they were meant to advance until they met up with Blaze's troops in the middle around Canterlot. So far they had already pushed through the Crystal Mountains, having taken over three outposts already- but this was the first time that the enemy forces have openly fled. And judging from the reports from the South, Blaze was faring equally well. * "They're packing up and leaving." Blaze said, watching from his vantage point as several drop ships rose from the AL32 Appleloosian outpost. With bright flares of their engines, they took off in the direction of the Crystal Mountains and away from them. "Chase after them?" A deep voice said, the massive owner of that voice smirking and sending a small ball of flame puffing out of its nostrils. "Perhaps later. Send a scout and see what the hell is going on." Blaze said. "I find that offensive." Another deep voice said, standing on the opposite side from the other. This belonged to a different creature. "Fine, what the HAY is going on." Blaze sighed. "Thank you." The figure, engulfed in shadows, nodded. "I've got the report." He then said, a telekinetic message sent to his brain from a fellow species. "Looks like they've just ditched everything. Didn't pack. No traps set." "Are we ready for the full assault?" Blaze raised an eyebrow to his fellow commanders. "I can see a handful of bases being abandoned. It must be a universal order- they're planning something." The shadowed figure behind him said. "If they make it to Valhalla, it's possible we'll be at a standstill for a very long time once they fortify the whole damn city." "It's best to strike when they're vulnerable, disregarding the circumstances." His fire-breathing friend said. "Chase after them it is." Blaze said, bringing a huge horn to his mouth and blowing through the instrument. A single long note flowed through the horn, a sharp and piercing tone that echoed for miles onwards and across a good quarter of the whole of Equestria. They were still at the Macintosh Hills just outside of Badlands, overlooking Appleloosia. Blaze ran out of breath, and lowered the instrument. For several seconds all they could hear was the single note echoing across the hills and valleys, traveling to every nook and cranny within fifteen kilometers as silence suddenly replaced the sounds of battle. Then the earth started shaking, and Blaze didn't have to turn around to know what was behind him. The horn was enchanted with a special spell, that once a specific note was blown another corresponding magical machine would open up a portal. Suddenly the area behind the trio of commanders of various species darkened with shadows which seeped through the border of Equestria and onto its land, flowing across the immediate vicinity. Then the shadowy mist burst into flame, igniting from a central point behind the commanders and spreading along the wall of shadows which rose to the sky. Soon the entire Southern border of Equestria was engulfed in flames, the inferno towering high up into the atmosphere. In this new reality, when science first won the wars- the other creatures tried to rebel as well. They believed in their own might, fought, and failed. But total eradication of the species could prove inconvenient in later years, as some of them may provide raw materials- or be raw materials themselves. So the Science Faction decided keep them in an environment where they could restrain them with ease. A max security prison which they could seal off at any given moment, with no way of breaking out unless the portal was activated. A place filled with fear, a physically existing equal of hell. Tartarus. "Dragons of the South-" the commander of the dragons stepped forward, roaring out into the burning skies and letting loose a ball of flame. "-Chase after our enemies and burn them down to hell where they have banished us!!" "Guardians, demons and titans of Tartarus- open the gates and tear our enemies to shreds!" The creature of shadow called out, his voice traveling for kilometers. Suddenly high up on the wall of fire behind them, the flames burst apart as a single monstrosity of a dragon flew right through the portal and back out into open skies, letting out a bone-rattling roar. Soon others behind it followed, busting through the portal and dragging streaks of flames behind them as they soared over the battlefields, in pursuit of their fleeing enemies. Then the earth started shaking, with appropriate bone-cracking thumps to go with it. Footsteps. Then something humongous pushed its way through the gates of hell, towering high over the cliffs in which Blaze and the other commanders stood upon. It roared, the ear-rupturing animalistic noise almost cracking the earth. Blaze had to take a step forward to prevent himself from falling. The creature's body, in the shape of a bear; seemed to contain a universe of stars, shimmering in the blue abyss of a self-contained reality; the creature's glowing eyes seemingly reflecting its enemy's dread to see it striding onto the battlefield. The Ursa Major reared up on its hind legs, and roared again- this time up at the sky. The roar was so powerful it scattered the clouds around it. Something else leapt through the portal and shook its three dog heads of the flames. Cerberus looked around, searching for a target and sniffing at the air. It wasn't soon before it sprinted after the science faction troops. "Let us begin." Blaze said, watching as the united troops of the South and Tartarus charged at full speed towards the north. * Screaming. The loud blasts of battle traveling down the gap in the earth in echoes stirred awake the unicorn pony at the bottom of the narrow ravine. Colgate's eyes abruptly flung open, snow flakes coating her mane, fur, tail, and even blurring her vision by sticking to her eye lashes. She grunted, getting up. Her head swam, her limbs un-coordinated. She almost tripped over herself again, and she could feel the cold seeping through the stinging wounds in her body. She looked down at her hooves. Oh that's right, the blades had been snapped away. A piercing scream caught her attention, and she looked up as several light flakes of ice tinkered down the ravine. Above her the remains of the Albatross gunship was wedged in the gap that even the exploded wreck couldn't pass. But it was barely being held in place, by the looks of it. The wind or even the slight breeze down here could seemingly topple the entire thing so it slid down even further. Some of it was still in flames. Colgate must've been forgotten about, and when the gunship crashed down and got jammed she must've been flung down here through the cockpit windshield. Thankfully the physical augmentations Val made to her sustained her body while she was passed out in the snow. Too bad she didn't give her the ability to regenerate- but then again, she didn't let anyone know that secret. She looked down at the stumps of blades on her hooves, then turned her attention to the battle raging on above. She didn't care much for who won. She just wanted blood- and the battle above was the most temptation she'd even get for that crimson red substance. With a slightly hopeful grin on her face, of craving; she dug her front hooves into the ice and used the remains of the blades. Thankfully they were removed, because the long blades from earlier would most certainly not fit in this narrow gap. Colgate herself barely did. Anticipation built up and caused her blood thirsty grin to spread even wider as she crawled her way to the war above.