//------------------------------// // May 8th (The Torture of the Tolerant) // Story: Equestria Legends Online // by Shadowflame //------------------------------// Darkened5ky Sky stood at the front of the airship, Westfalia, late into the afternoon. It had been hours since he and the other members of the Elements of Harmony arrived to find Osiris defeated. Everyone was excited and astonished that Siren had become the Element of Kindness (The Tomboy of the group now had Fluttershy's element. Go figure.), but everyone's enthusiasm died down as they realized that Shadow was nowhere in sight. They had all split into groups to search the skies and clouds for Shadow, as well as another team to search the ground below. Sky had volunteered to help search the sky for him, but his mind was constantly distracted by his own thoughts. Sky sighed, "Where could he be? Knowing Shadow, he'd head for Cloudsdale or Canterlot if he got lost, but both Jupiter and Ti-Rone had messaged that he hadn't gone back to either city. So, that means he could either be unconscious somewhere, abducted, or..." He trailed off, not liking the fact that Shadow's death could likely be another probable possibility. He pushed that out of his mind. But there was another matter that quickly took its place at the front of his mind: Why had Shadow hidden his alicorn ability? Why didn't he tell anyone else? Sky frowned, "Why didn't he tell me? I'm his best friend, aren't I?" He shook his head, "I'm sure he had his reasons for it, but right now we need to find where he went. He's out there somewhere, we just need to keep searching." _____________________________________________________________________________________ Shadowflame I groggily opened my eyes as I came to, my head still pounding as I felt a bruise beneath my mane. I groaned, "What happened?" I blinked a few times to find the dim light of a torch hanging above me, "Where am I?" Soon, my eyes adjusted a bit and i tried to sit up, only to find that I couldn't move. Startled, I took a quick look at myself, to find that I was laying on my back on a large wooden table, slightly tilted so my body was still upright. My hooves were all bound to the table with iron chains, and my wings were spread open and bound to the table with ropes. I felt an unfamiliar weight at the front of my skull, and I glanced up to see an iron ring with a red jewel attached around my horn. And from what I could tell, my weapons and cloak were no longer equipped to myself, and nowhere in sight. Instinctively, I tried to struggle out of the chains and ropes, but I found I couldn't move an inch under them. I groaned, "What the heck, how did I end up here? Why can't I move under these ropes?" I glanced towards the ropes that pinned my wings to the table, "It won't hold me if I burn it off." With a small bit of magic, I focused on the ropes, picturing small bits of flames eating away the threads. But, nothing happened. As my horn was glowing with magic, a bright red light suddenly emitted from the red jewel on the ring around my horn. My eyes widened, "A magic nullifying item. I've never seen anything like this before." Without my magic to break me loose, I knew I was pretty much stuck. Even if I was able to cut the ropes with some physical object, it wouldn't work on the chains holding my hooves in place. It was clear whoever kidnapped me (or rather, foalnapped, I guess) didn't want me to leave here. Another thought came to mind, "Where is 'here' anyway?" I took a moment to look around at my surroundings. From what I could see, I was inside a small, wooden cabin. There weren't any windows, so the only source of light was a small electrical light hanging overhead. The whole room was empty in my field of vision, but then I noticed a small sliver of space in one of the walls, revealing a faint glow of dim sunlight from outside. "Where am I?" A cold chuckle suddenly filled the room. My eyes widened as I recognized the voice. I turned my head towards the far corner of the room, to see an all too familiar member of the Haters' Guild. I glared at him, muttering under my breath, "Ezekiel." Ezekiel laughed as he walked over to my table, "Surprise, surprise. What do we have here? The great Element of Courage: Shadowflame, the alicorn." He was making his arrogance widely apparent. Somehow, that told me he was convinced he had nothing to fear. "What do you want from me? To kill me for my element?" Ezekiel smirked, "Oh, yes. I brought you here to kill you, but not for the reason of taking your element. I merely want a sweet taste of revenge towards the only little pony who got away from me alive." His expression suddenly turned darker, "Back when we first met outside of Canterlot, it was my job to kill you. Your other two companions at the time weren't important, and we only had orders to kill them if they resisted. I didn't care about them. You were my only prey, but you just managed to escape from the point of my blade. "Among the Haters' Guild, I have a reputation of never failing to kill anypony. Whenever I seek a victim to kill, I never rest until they are caught and dead. But since you escaped death from me, I've been on edge for a while. I knew that when I was finally free of the rest of my guild, you would be my first target." I paused for a moment, "Wait, what do you mean, 'free from the rest of my guild'? Don't they help you in your killings?" Ezekiel shook his head, "You see, only about a month ago, Chess Queen had made a proclamation to the rest of the guild. She said that we were to not harm you or the other element bearers unless you were to attack us first. The queen had rambled on about something along the lines that your times would soon come and you would all die by the hands of our king." He snorted, "Honestly, I don't give a bull for what Chess Queen says. You are my prey and I will kill you now!" I winced a bit. It all made sense. That would've explained why we hadn't been caught up in any Haters' attack for weeks before we attacked their headquarters. But I still didn't know who Ezekiel was talking about when he mentioned 'their king'. "Who is your king?" Ezekiel snorted, "Like you need to know now. I'll make sure that you don't leave here alive." He suddenly drew his sword, "Ever since you imprisoned the other Haters, I've been a lonely little bird. So, I decided to tail you the entire time. I followed you all the way to Cloudsdale, which was perfect because I could blend in with the other pegasi players there. But then I lost you when you and the others traveled into the boss room alone." He chuckled slightly, "But as luck would have it, I flew outside the tower and found you, paralyzed on top of a little cloud. It was the perfect time to take you out. But then, I noticed you had wings beneath your cloak. I must say, I was surprised. "I brought you back here alive, like I had planned to. But while you were unconscious, I puzzled over how you had acquired your new wings." Quicker than a flash, the Hater drove the edge of his sword right into my right wing. I screamed in pain. What? Why does this sword hurt so much? It feels like hot iron! Ezekiel laughed, "Do you like it? It's a little upgrade that was given to me only a small while ago. It was provided by the king of my guild. It ignores the pain nullifying effects of the game. What you're feeling right now is what it'd be like if I was stabbing a knife into your back in the real world." No wonder it hurt so bad. It was unlike anything I was used to. Out of desperation, I tried to use my magic to pull the sword out of my wing bone, but it wasn't working due to the ring strapped to my horn. "Magic won't help you out now, Shadow. That ring on your horn was another treasure given to me by the king. It prevents any use of magic when worn by a player." Ezekiel laughed loudly, "Look at you now. It really is quite pitiful. No weapons, no armor, no wings, and no magic. You are completely at my mercy." With a quick swipe of his sword, I felt my right wing sever completely from my back. I screamed in pain as the dismembered wing fell off the table and burst into red code on the ground below. I glanced towards my health bar to see that it had dropped a small bit, and a red "X" had appeared by my ID: The sign for the 'Disabled' status condition. The disabled status condition meant that you could no long use a part of your body because it had been chopped off, like in my case, my wing. The status condition could be healed by using a health potion or by returning to a safe area. But by the look of how everything was going, I figured Ezekiel wasn't gonna let my wing grow back. Ezekiel laughed, "With no wings, you'll never be able to escape me now, even if you cut yourself free from your chains." He smirked back at me, "Now, would you care to explain how you became an alicorn?" Through clenched teeth, I spat, "Not on your life." He merely chuckled, "I figured you wouldn't say, but don't worry. You don't need to tell me, because I already figured it out. The only alicorn before you had been Cordon of Team Vortex. Everyone knows how you dueled him and kicked him out of your guild, and we all know that he left Canterlot as another normal earth pony. I'm guessing that's the day that you woke up as an alicorn, isn't it?" I gasped, only to make Ezekiel grin, "Cordon had remained undefeated for a while until you won the duel against him. When you won, you gained his alicorn abilities. So that means, if I kill you, then I'll become an alicorn as well!" Just like last time, Ezekiel hacked off my other wing with his blade, causing me to release another scream. I glared at the Hater as he watched my other wing disappear, "I won't let you take the alicorn ability. I won't let you kill my friends with it." Ezekiel paused for a moment, "Why would I go after your friends next? I don't care who I kill next, just as long as I can stab my sword through their heart." I couldn't believe what I was hearing, "Y-you... You sound like... Are you saying that you kill other players for the fun of it?!" Ezekiel grinned, "Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying." "Why?" "Shut up, and I'll tell you why." _____________________________________________________________________________________ Darkened5ky On the airship, Sky continued to search the skies (hm, go figure) for any signs of Shadow. Yet, the night had come, and nothing had turned up yet. If nothing turned up soon, they'd have to regroup before the more powerful monsters spawned into the world. "Sky!" He turned around to see Lexus flying towards the airship, and he was carrying something in his hooves. Sky turned to Lexus as the pegasus lighted down onto the deck of the ship, "What'd you find?" "I found these." Lexus dropped a small black bundle of cloth onto the ground, revealing a double bladed sword in a sheath, an iron kite shield, and a black cloak, "It's Shadow's gear." Sky picked up the items with his magic and inspected them, "Where did you find these?" "On top of the clouds. It was farther away than where I saw Shadow collapse, but that's because the clouds drifted off." Lexus replied. Sky frowned, "Well, at least we know he isn't dead yet. If he had died, his cloak would have disappeared along with him, leaving his weapons behind." He turned to Lexus, "Maybe we can use these to track Shadow. Do you know anybody who has a high enough tracking skill to find him using his gear?" Lexus paused, "Hm... Well, nobody in our group can... But I think Comet might be able to." Sky nodded, "Go get her and bring her to the ship ASAP. The longer we take, the farther Shadow will be." Lexus nodded and took off to the skies in search of Comet. Meanwhile, Sky glanced down to Shadow's cloak in his magical grasp, "Whoever took Shadow must have stripped him of his gear so he'd be easier to handle. But now the question is, who did it?" _____________________________________________________________________________________ Shadowflame My eyes were wide as I stared at Ezekiel, "You're... a what?" The Hater smirked at me, "That's right. In the real world, I'm a serial killer." "B-but, why did you come to the game then? You weren't even a brony, were you?" Ezekiel rolled his eyes, "Please, I wouldn't be caught dead watching a little girl's show. Isn't it obvious as to why I came here? Because here, I could kill anyone I wanted without the authorities of the real world on my tail. "Back in the real world, the day ELO was released, the world was turned upside down as news channels and governments panicked over the 1000 people that were now trapped in here. They received reports that removing a helmet from a player would kill them on the spot, and better yet, what admins that hadn't been trapped in the game learned that the helmets would kill the players when their character's health hit zero. With no cops or military inside ELO to stop me, this game sounded like heaven. A holding pen where hundreds of people were waiting for me to slaughter them." A sadistic smile spread across his face, "I knew that a brony was living next door to me at the time, and of all the chances, he was another one who was trapped in ELO. So, I snuck into his house, and I stabbed him through the heart with a knife. And once he was dealt with, I took his Nervegear and trapped myself in this world. From then on, I've been happily feeling the great satisfaction that comes with every throat I've slit, every life I've ended." I glared at him as I trembled in rage, "How could you be so heartless? You're killing people who want to get out of here, because if they don't die by you, they're afraid they'll die by something else. You're treating this like a game, when this has only become murder inside a slaughterhouse. I won't let you get away with this, you sick mongrel! You can go to he-!" I cut off as I suddenly felt a sharp jab of horrific pain in my arm as Ezekiel stabbed his sword through my arm. I cried in pain, just as the Hater leaned in closer to my face, "Oh, those are fighting words. I love it when my victims curse me to hell, because I already know I'm going there. But first, I'm going to put you in so much pain that you'll be begging me to drop your health down to zero." I winced as Ezekiel suddenly twisted the point of his sword inside my arm. It felt like the place where he stabbed was on fire, burning with every jerking motion. I glared at the Hater, "No you don't!" I reeled back my head, and with the strength in my neck, I swung my forehead towards the Hater and stabbed him through the chest with the tip of my horn. Ezekiel quickly stepped back from the impromptu strike, wincing, "Huh, not bad. You know, I put that ring on your horn to suppress your magic. But seeing as you've found another way to use it," He suddenly stabbed his sword through one of my pony ears, pinning it as well as my head to the table, "I'll just have to get rid of it entirely." As if the pain of getting my ear pierced by a sword wasn't enough, Ezekiel quickly threw a wicked punch towards my horn. And just as soon as my head tossed away from the force of the blow, another punch followed from the other side, again at my horn. I cursed to myself, Oh gosh, he's trying to break off my horn! Ezekiel bashed my horn left and right, my head jerking each direction with each blow. I desperately tried to move my head to avoid the punches, but I was stuck in place due to the sword that pinned my ear down. Every punch caused my ear to get cut more by the blade, which was incredibly painful, but it wasn't long before I started to notice that my hearing in that ear was failing. I wished for Ezekiel to stop his attack, but... I suppose I actually got my wish. With one last strike, Ezekiel's hoof connected with my horn and the entire base of it shattered, the top half of my horn flying off my forehead and onto the ground. At the same time, I let out a scream as the same strike pulled my ear against the blade of the sword, causing it to split my ear in half from the tip of it downwards, leaving red scars of code where it was severed. I wheezed in exhaustion, grateful that the onslaughts of attacks were over, letting my head slump back against the wooden table in a pool of sweat. Ezekiel bent down and picked up the tip of my horn with a hoof, "Well, that takes care of that." He removed the magic nullifying ring that stood still attached to it, and then inspected my horn, "You know, in this game, the admins went ahead and added a small bonus feature, where hundreds of well known fan fics are available in any library, ready to be read by any player. "Now, I wouldn't have read any of those because I frankly don't care," He suddenly grinned, "But a few friends of mine in my guild referred me to a few of them. Rainbow Factory, Cupcakes, Sweet Apple Massacre, and my personal favorite, Cheerilee's Garden. I have to hand it to you bronies, you all can come up with some deliciously gruesome things." He gripped my horn, as if it were a knife, "In fact, I've gotten a few ideas for torture from them." Just as quick as if it had been a sword, Ezekiel plunged the tip of my horn straight down into my chest, right where my heart would've been. I screamed in both pain and shock. Ezekiel cackled to himself as he drove my horn in farther, "In Cheerilee's Garden, an elementary school teacher breaks off a tiny little boy's horn from his forehead, and then stabs him through the heart with it. But sadly, there's one thing in this game that doesn't quite settle my appetite for killing." He released his hold on my horn, leaving it embedded in my chest, and then pulled his sword out from the table, "Nothing in this game bleeds. But even if nothing does, at least this lets me do my business without any mess. I hate trying to get blood out of my clothes." Ezekiel then began to stab his sword into any part of my body. The pain of one stab felt like an oversized needle, but the constant shocks of pain that flowed into my body made it all worse. Again and again, the Hater plunged his sword into my arms, my legs, and my torso with blood fury in his eyes. With every stab, my arms and legs struggled under the chains in an effort to retaliate or get away, but my struggling was useless and the horrific pain kept pricking through my whole body. I screamed, "STOP!", but Ezekiel kept hacking away at me with the point of his sword. Tears were beginning to stream from my eyes, blurring my vision, making everything zoom in and out of focus. I could feel myself want to whimper and curl up to hide myself from this torture, but I stopped myself from doing so. I wouldn't let Ezekiel have that satisfaction. But until he could break my will, I knew he wasn't going to let up. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Darkened5ky Thankfully, it didn't take long for Lexus and Comet to reach the airship again. Sky nodded to Comet as she lighted down on deck, "Comet, how high is your tracking skill set?" "I've almost mastered it. Nopony can track like I can." Comet replied. Sky nodded, "Good." He held up Shadow's equipment to her, "Can you track Shadow using these? We found them lying on top of the cloud layer." Comet grabbed the cloak from the equipment, nodding, "Yes, I think I can track where he went, but it'll be a bit more difficult if he traveled by air." She then proceeded to open her player menu and press a few buttons here and there. But then, she tapped one last button and her eyes flashed with green light, which left her eyes with a dim green glow. The pegasus glanced around over the edge of the airship and looked around at the clouds they flew over. Meanwhile, a boom of thunder sounded in the distance, surprising everyone aboard the ship. Lexus glanced up towards the source of the thunder to see a bunch of storm clouds in the night sky. "Uh, oh. Looks like a storm's coming. If it gets really bad, we'll have to withdraw everyone and postpone our search for Shadow." Lexus muttered. Sky frowned, "Then we'll need to find him before that storm gets here, just in case." He looked to Swift at the helm of the ship, "Swift! How long do you think that storm will take to get here?" Swift glanced towards the storm clouds, using his ability to see the wind patterns it and them, "It looks like the wind isn't very strong, but it is blowing in our direction. The storm will get here within an hour, I'd say." But then, Comet shouted out, "Hey, I've got a lock on Shadow's trail." She pointed towards a few clouds below, "It looks like the trail falls out below these clouds and leads to the ground. We may have to search for him on the ground." Sky nodded, "Great, that should help." He yelled to Swift, "Take us down to the ground and let Comet and I off. We'll start looking for Shadow, but in the meantime, Lexus, find everyone else who are still searching the skies and tell them to search the ground from the air. Swift, once we've landed, anchor the ship and let it float in the air so everyone can see where we've gone. Watch the ship and don't let anything besides our group board it." Lexus took off from the ship. Swift turned the wheel hard on the airship and began Westfalia's descent to the ground. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Shadowflame For one last blow, Ezekiel slashed his blade across the front of my throat, making me scream once more. Finally, he had stopped his constant torture. I was laying in a pool of sweat, and through my blurred vision, I could see that my health bar was just entering the red. Ezekiel laughed as he looked at my health as well, "So, it seems that you only lose your alicorn ability when you're dueling and your health hits the yellow zone." He smirked, "Or, if you're DEAD!" He raised his sword again as if he were going to plunge it into my body again, which was now lined with dozens of red code scars. I screamed, finding my shout to be only a mere whimper, "Please.... S-stop...." Ezekiel's blade missed my face just barely, hitting the wood table I was strapped to. I would have flinched at the action, but I was so worn out and tired that I didn't care. My body was in crying out in exhaustion already. Ezekiel grinned cruelly, "Begging for mercy? That doesn't sound like the Element of Courage everyone in the game knows." He laughed again, "But lucky for you, I won't kill you here. I like to hunt my prey." With a quick flash of his blade, the chains binding me were cut and my almost lifeless body slumped off of the table and into a crumpled heap on the floor. I grunted in pain as Ezekiel kicked me hard in the gut, "Get up and get moving." He leaned down closer to my ear, which was still split in half, "I'm gonna give you a head start. This hut is located at the edge of a forest just below Cloudsdale. Beside the edge of this forest are the fields outside of Canterlot. You can try your luck and see if you can make it to the city, but I can't say that you'll make it there before I come after you. Out on the fields, you'll stick out like a sore thumb; I'll spot you from a mile away, and then I'll crush you... That is, unless the monsters out there get you first. "But, you could try to hide in the forest. There are less monsters in there than in the fields at night, and if you get lucky and avoid the monsters, you could regenerate your health back to full. But before that happens, I'll find you again and I will end your life. Your choice." Ezekiel put away his sword and began walking out the door to the hut, "I'll give you 20 minutes to run. But don't think that you can outrun me. While I clipped your wings, I still have mine." The hater opened up the door and walked outside into the night, leaving me alone on the dirt floor. I cringed to myself, "C-crap, either way I choose, it won't be very easy to get out of here alive. What do I do now?"