What does a Hero Truly Need? Vol. 1: A New Age of Heroes

by zelkova48

Chapter 28: A Reason To Fight

Sven sat in the many shelves of the broom closet that was his room within the apartment after a long night of drinking and potential domestic violence, thinking all that's happened hours earlier while doing his best not to pass out from too much alcohol consumption. His breathe was foul with the stench of alcohol, and his head was ringing with something fierce. It felt as though someone had been screaming into his ear for the past half hour, which evidently was the also the cause of his migraine.

After pulling off that little stunt in front of the princesses, they went and deemed him mentally unstable and unfit for service, but not before getting scolded like an unruly child by Luna. So until he passes a psyche evaluation while under twenty hour surveillance and guidance from Luna's own night guards, he is suspended from all royal guard duty until further notice. Of course, something so trivial as a simple test wasn't going to keep him down.

"What's the matter friend?" a voice spoke from above. Sven looked up from his seat and was greeted with Jackal who up until now had not been since the party started, due to certain racial circumstances. He sat on the shelf just above him and wore a friendly smile on his face with a thick tome held in his paws, eagerly turning the pages as he dove into a conversation with his dear friend

Even though he was among those who helped greatly to stop the changeling invasion out of his own selfless desires, everyone, or more accurately the vast majority who were uncomfortable with the presence of a diamond dog, opted for him to relax in the apartment during the night of the reception. To keep him where he was, they had the caterers deliver food to him so that he would stay put. Though he was bummed out that he didn't have his moment in the spotlight, he had to admit that the food given to him was to die for.

"I've noticed that you look a little down" said Jackal "Did something happen?"

"Well for starters..." Sven started with a rude belch "I nearly pulped a fool into red jelly tonight and got removed from the guards until they make sure I'm stable enough for service" Jackal physically winced at the mere thought of the Rogue Knight turning someone into substitute strawberry jam "Not only that" Sven continued "Luna's personal night guard will be secretly observing me from a distance to make sure I don't do anything too drastic"

"Aye... No wonder you look bluer than normal" Jackal chuckled softly "So who was it?" he asked "Was it some poor drunk who thought that a bottle of liquid courage and some guts would protect him from your blows? Or maybe it was a guard who wanted some payback for humiliating him?"

"No, it wasn't either of those two. It was actually one of the more unbearable nobles around here" Sven stated "He thought he could use his silver tongue to recruit me and my friend to join his organization of righteous zealots. He ended up insulting me and your kind when he learned that I was friends with you"

"Oh, I see..." Jackal frowned, but quickly brushed away the negative thoughts "So what stopped you from breaking every bone in his body?" Jackal inquired "Seems to me like you had every opportunity to stuff his sorry behind into a full body cast for the next six months"

"If I did harm him, then I'd be going against by own code. I'd be going against my own existence. In the end, I let him go. But the next time he slights me again... well there won't be a next time" Sven said with a chuckle "Although, I'll be sleeping well tonight knowing for a fact that that ass won't be eating right for a week after I throttled him with my hooves... heh, heh..."

"But it looks to me that you won't be able to do anything without having a group of hounds dog you at every moment they got" said Jackal, clearly annoyed by the puns he unwittingly made "I'm not sure if they explained it to you or not, but Luna's guards are comprised of nothing but batponies. They're tough and are in a position equal to that of your own if not greater. They also have connections, one little slip up and it could be back to Gladius prison for you"

"Pfft, worry not for me my friend. I'll play their game, but only until I find some reason to fight. And rest assure, Jackal, I will find a reason to keep on fighting like the Rogue Knight that I am!" Sven exclaimed with fervor "Be it for or against these ponies, my time will come"

"If you say so, Sven" said Jackal as he settled his tome down on to the table "But until you find that will to fight, do you think you could help me reunite with my family..." he asked quietly, almost reluctantly in fact "No, no. I'm just rambling on like a fool. You don't have to help me if you don't want to"

"Nonsense, Jackal. After that little bout in the arena, we're practically blood brothers now. You've watched my back ever since we first met back in that accursed prison, and now it is the time that I return the favor" Sven offered as he extended his gauntlet to Jackal "So, it is not a question of whether or not I want to help you, but whether or not you want my help. Think about your goal, what drives you to continue, Jackal?"

"My... my family..." Jackal began to tear up, he brought his arm up and wiped away the tears, trying his best to avoid being seen by Sven in such a pathetic state "They mean everything to me... They've done nothing wrong, but why should they suffer for being who they are... I would move heaven and earth if it meant seeing them again" he could feel such fire well up from within him upon confessing his will to continue. Without hesitation, he hopped off the shelf, grabbed Sven's gauntlet and the two shared a yell of empowerment together.

"AHAHAHA! Yes! That is what I wanted to hear from you!" Sven boomed, causing the whole apartment to shake under the his roar "Hold onto that fire my friend, and your convictions will lead you to glory as well as your goal!"

The two couldn't hold it anymore, they eventually broke down together, side by side and began to laugh jovially. Tonight was not a night to feel sad, but a night to look forward to the future. True, there will be many hardship and plenty of those who would impede their quest from the very start, but they are not alone in this. They have friends and allies alike. This is a road that will not be traveled alone, but with a band, a band composed of nothing but the finest heroes from two entirely different worlds...

Back at the party, the mane six and the heroes found themselves cleaning up the mess that Sven left behind in his drunken rage. By then the princesses had already left the scene to check up on the newlyweds and had left everyone else to their own devices. However, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had made it very clear before they left to strip Sven of all his perks and position in the guards before sending him off with an heavy escort to the apartments like a rebellious child sent to his room without supper.

"Well that couldn't have been worse" Applejack sighed as she walked over to her friends, clearly shaken by the recent tremor caused by one very ticked off knight "Ah thought for sure somepony was gonna sent to the hospital after that little debacle"

"Then it was fortunate enough that we showed up when we did" said Rhasta as he helped to clean up the mess left behind by Sven "Had we arrived too late, the only part of the hospital that unbearable noble would've been sent to would be the morgue"

Applejack and the rest of the girls physically winced upon Rhasta's bluntness, but he was right in every sense of the word. When she and her friends tried to reach out to Sven, he shut them out and remained in a state of unrestrained fury. The raw killing intent that was emanating from Sven's was palpable. Applejack could feel that anger cling to her skin and burn like scalding hot tar had just been spilt all over her. Had it not been for the other heroes, Princess Cadence and newly crowned Prince Shining Armor's reception would've been famous for having somepony violently die there.

"Are we all cleaned up? I think we're done here" said Fluttershy as she kicked away some loose dirt into a nearby bush "Phew, I still can't believe that this all happened"

"How can you not?" said Gondar as he stood beside Fluttershy "You already know what we are capable of" he stated as he played around with the handle of his makeshift sword "It was only a matter of time before something or someone invoked his wrath. I'm surprised he actually managed to hold out for so long"

"I'm more surprised at his level of restraint" said Twilight as she examined the crater that Sven caused mere minutes ago "What drives this power of his?" she questioned no one in particular "It looked like he just tapped the ground and all of Canterlot shook. I'm scared to think of what would actually happen if that noble really did get hit..."

"Is something on your mind, young Twilight?" Rubick asked as he noticed her in a state of concentration "You seem to be doing this more and more often whenever event that involve one of us transpire"

"It's just I'm always seeing something new" Twilight replied "Whenever I think I seem to have understand something, you five always shatter my expectation for... a lot of things actually. Time control, raw strength, and amazing acrobatic feats are one thing, but I still don't understand why Sven blew up on that poor fellow"

"I wouldn't exactly call that stuck up prick poor during the whole situation" Gondar joined in "You didn't hear what he was saying to me before Sven got up and scared the living daylights out of that jerk"

"I'm gonna have to vouch for Gondar on this girls" Rainbow Dash flew in and landed in front of the group "That guy, He called himself.... pftt... pftt... High Horse..." she resisted the urge to flat out laugh her flank off at the name, but everyone just rolled their eyes at her immaturity "Phew... Anyway, this guy shows up after Quicksilver showed up and tried to get him to join the Descendants and he ended up saying something he probably shouldn't have..."

"Yeah. That dick ended up insulting the diamond dogs, and in turn, Sven's honor as well" said Gondar "But the weird thing about it all was how... familiar that guy felt" Gondar drawled on. His eyebrows arched together as his mind began to wander off into the distance. The gears in his head turned and something that he didn't even know about connected together perfectly like smaller pieces of a larger puzzle "I think I know him from somewhere but I just can't place my mind on it..."

"What?" Twilight raised her eyebrow "You clearly never seen this stallion before or even been in this world for more than two weeks. How could you know this stallion? This... High Horse?"

"It's hard to explain, but a face is usually something that I can't forget" Gondar replied "That High Horse guy... he was with you six for some reason, I don't know where and I don't know why... he was there at Canterlot when it was on fire, leading some sort of army and storming the castle... I know all of this from m-" for whatever reason, Gondar stopped mid sentence and simply froze in place. He didn't move, he didn't even breathe. The only expression that was discernible from behind his mask was the thousand yard stare that he had.

Everyone stared in shock as they rushed on over to their catatonic friend. They quickly rushed on over and prodded him and even went as far as hitting him to elicit some kind of reaction, but nothing of the sort happened. Rubick and Twilight tried to snap him back to reality using every spell they could think of in the book, but even with their powers combined the result was the same.

"I don't get it! Atropos' dream magic should been affecting him but it's not working!" Rubick yelled in frustration, throwing his staff on the ground as a result.

"What's wrong with him?' Rarity asked "He was just fine a second ago. One moment he was spouting some nonsense about that noble and then the next he just spaces out completely!"

"He appears to be in some sort of a magic induced coma. Normally this should be easy to break, unless... Harbinger" he whispered. He turned back to face everyone with a concerned expression on his face "Everyone! I'm afraid we can't help him now! He'll have to break out of it on his own..."

There he was again, what was this now? The fourth or fifth time? Whatever number it was he that he was back once more. Back inside the black void that was his own head. Even though the vision had already stopped and he could relax knowing that a random attack on his mind wouldn't happen again, this one was actually forced by himself. He purposely put himself back in the spotlight to find out the truth, or at least most of it.

Gondar stood again at the center of his mind and looked all around, patiently anticipating what was to come. His mind was more focused now, and his reasons being so was that he had an epiphany. All those times he had spent here, all the pain of seeing those mind numbing images and visions was to prepare him and his friends to save Equestria from cataclysmic destruction.

But this time, there was no more pain, only an intense urge to continue and to complete his new found goal in life, a mission, an objective. Before he knew it, the black void that was his mind melded into the same images he had been seeing for days now. Only this time, they all resurfaced within his consciousness in perfect clarity. He knew that this disaster was going to happen, he just needed to make sure of a few things before making his move.

Once again, he found himself standing in a verdant field of grass. He immediately recognized the area, it was the field just outside of Ponyville when he was staying there. He turned to see the gallows that were already present there and he could feel righteous anger burn up from within his very being as he stared at the event taking place. Six mares, six familiar mares he and his collegues befriended all had a noose around their necks with a mob eagerly awaiting for their execution. Before long, the cloaked figure returned to the scene, walking out carrying a box that he was familiar with too.

Using his trained eyesight, he could just make out the face of the individual out. His intuition was correct and he forcefully gritted his teeth with enough force to grind diamonds to dust. Underneath that hood was the one, the only pitiful snot of a noble:

The rest of the vision went on as it would, with the elements being smashed to bits beneath his hooves, and the nightmarish sound of falling bodies that followed. He did his best to drown out the cheering that came afterwards before willing for the next vision to appear. Like flipping through pages of a book, he eventually stopped at the moment he wanted. He was in Canterlot, during some kind of attack. The smoke form the burning city filled his lings while the terrible screaming from the butchered citizens ringed in his ear.

Ponies were killing ponies, that was what he saw now that he could comprehend the visions with clarity. But there was an obvious line that was drawn in the sand. One side obviously had the advantage, with weapons, armor, and numbers while the rest were the unfortunate who stood between them and their goal. Soon the vision flashed over to the aftermath where he found himself standing before the gates castle Canterlot, a mere jog from where he currently was back in the physical plane.

There under the arch of the gate was a group of cheering soldiers who began to wheel out their prisoners in a cage. The prisoners, whom to his own surprise, was identified as none other than the royal pony sisters. There they were, somehow, pathetically beaten down, battered, bloodied, and bruised and chained to wall of their cell.

Using his trained eyesight again, he scanned the area for any reoccurring themes. Sure enough, he found something that fit the bill. Standing atop a cage where the prisoners where, shouting out victorious to his peers was High Horse again. Now Gondar was sure that that asshole was the ring master of everything that was going to happen in the near future. He was without doubt now, he knew his target, and he knew that High Horse wasn't going to live much long once the hunt was on. He had everything he needed now to begin his assassination attempt.

But just for curiosity sake, he went on to the very last scenes of the vision...

Gondar inhaled in the fresh air, and took in the grand landscape laid out before him. This, this was how it was suppose to all end. With a disaster, and some sort of birth of a new era. He was in a utopia, everything was clean and the ponies who were apparently living her pranced and danced without so much a care in the world.

Gondar did what he thought he couldn't do in a vision and began to explore the city. He picked himself up and began to walk towards his center of interest, a gargantuan pavilion in the center of the city. It looked like hub for all sorts of activity. There was commerce, trade, and other business that were once shady but were now out in the open. He kept walking forward, his instinct leading him to the one stallion he expected to see upon reaching his destination. Sure enough, he came upon a large, luxurious velvet tent and entered inside.

In the middle of it was High Horse who was enjoying some personal intimacy with a group of bawdy mares. He was having perhaps a little too much fun, drinking copious amounts of wine, and dining on the freshest of fruits as he dug his face into the part of the mare where the sun don't shine. He was fat, he was happy, and more importantly, he made Gondar want to strangle him until he popped like a brown stallion shaped blister. He was reaping insurmountable rewards for the destruction countless others, it was absolutely sickening to watch.

"That's it" Gondar grunted angrily as he walked away "I think I've seen enough..." he walked out of the tent and began to will himself back to reality, but not before he caught the glimpse of a certain monument of in the corners of his eyes. He approached it, seeing that there was a crowd gathering around it and worshiping it like some kind of god.

The monument in question was a massive obelisk with embossed images around it. Floating atop it were four massive stone rings, each smaller than the last with varying runic scriptures engraved on the sides. The rings where all within another, from the biggest to the smallest, they all locked together and rotated around as a ball of light radiating pure energy was sealed in the center to keep the rings in check. Its low, almost mechanical humming and intimidating appearance piqued Gondar interest. He waded through the crowd that was there, his body phasing through them like a spirit as he reached a bronze plaque. He read it.

"This is the Galactic Fulcrum. This was the device used by our beloved rulers to create their ideal world for all ponies to live in. May they never be forgotten" Gondar pulled back in confusion "I don't know what this is but I know I don't like it... forget it, I got a job to do..."

Gondar snapped back into reality and he could feel a rush of some much needed air fill hims lungs which he was all to eager to partake in. He was also greeted with some queer looks from his friends as they witness him come back to earth after that little moment of... well, whatever the heck it was suppose to be. They waited for him to say something but he instead turned around, pulled out his sword and began walking into the castle.

"Wait, where are you going!" Twilight called after him, she grabbed onto him, trying to stop his advance which she managed to do "Whoa, where's the fire? You just got back from some sort of coma"

"I know" Gondar replied plain and simple "Where'd High Horse go?" he demanded.

"What? Uh... he ran off to the ballroom I think but... hey wait!" she shouted as Gondar pushed her aside and readied his blade for battle. She and everyone else followed him to make sure he wasn't about to go do something incredibly stupid "Hold on, put the sword away! What are you going to do?" Gondar sheathed his blade but he narrowed his eyes on Twilight and let out a small hiss of anger.