“Good morning,” Raging Star moaned, pulling his face off of the floor.
“Right on time,” Satyan chortled. Viololá glanced down at the boy and held him close to her chest. “What are you doing?!”
“Yeah, what are you doing?!” Raging Star struggled out of her grasp, but she held on tight.
“Stop squirming, I’m trying to save you from… something!” the Unicorn shouted.
“You dare interfere with my plans?!” Satyan roared, zooming over to both of them. Viololá teleported out of the way and placed her hand over Raging Star’s neck.
“Sorry kid, but whatever that bull is planning involves you and the moon, and I can’t let that happen,” she said.
“What are you-?” Raging Star stopped mid-sentence as Viololá sent an electrical surge through his body. He fell limp and slouched in her arms. She then blew a hole in the ground and tossed the boy inside, shielding him from the light of the moon.
“I will mount your head on my horn!” Satyan exclaimed, catching up to Viololá now. She braced herself as the Minotaur charged into her body with a powerful headbutt. The magic barrier she had created seconds earlier shattered as she went flying through the landscape and into a dirt wall.
“I don’t know what your game is,” Viololá started, pulling herself off of the crater she had created, “but I won’t let you do anything to Raging Star!”
“You foal,” Satyan snorted. “You don’t even realize what you’re protecting.”
“I know that he’s a confused little boy who grew up under an oppressive rule, and nopony deserves that,” she argued.
“So you sympathize with a monster because of its origins?” Satyan created two large magic spheres and hurled them at the Unicorn. She powered up and deflected both blasts, charging skyward now in an assault of her own.
“I’m doing this because I know Raging Star has a chance at life with me, but with you, he’ll endure nothing but pain!”
She met the Minotaur in the air and unleashed strike after strike of magic blasts, but the augmented bull avoided each one. He spun around, avoiding her latest volley and whipped her face with his tail, knocking her off balance. He then grabbed Viololá by the mane and kneed her in the gut. She choked, coughing out blood and saliva. Satyan smirked and dropped her from the air. Her body crashed into the ground and she lay curled up on the floor, coughing and twitching.
“If only you knew how much pain this boy has caused, maybe you’d have a change of heart about him,” Satyan said, gliding over to the spot where the boy was. He unearthed Raging Star and levitated the child into the sky.
“Raging Star,” Viololá choked out, straining to look at the floating boy. “What… is he doing?”
“Now then, show us that beautiful face of yours,” Satyan laughed.
A tiny heartbeat was all that Raging Star could hear. Suddenly, the beating grew louder and began to increase in rate. Before his mind could regain consciousness, something else invaded. As if blocking out his rational thought, this swelling instinct poured into his body and enveloped his entire being. Darkness was all that the boy could see and feel, followed by rage and power. Raging Star was lost, lost in the swirling void of his inherent nature. The beast had now awoken.
“What is that?” Viololá gasped, watching as Raging Star’s body began to convulse in the air. Satyan laughed maniacally and threw the child on the ground. He landed on his feet, shifting the ground a level lower than it originally was. His roar filled the night air. He stomped on the ground, holding his hands out and gnashing his teeth. His body grew in size exponentially until he towered over even Satyan. A deep brown fur spread all over his body, ravishing his clothes and skin.
“I give you Raging Star’s true form, the Mighty Ape!” Satyan declared just as the child finished his transformation. The howl from the beast rang out over the canyons of Sapphira. Minotaur from the gorge halted their pillage due to the beast’s cry. Raging Star swung his arm sideways, shattering a nearby rock spire. His mouth gaped open and a purple beam erupted from his throat, soaring through the sky. Viololá shielded her eyes from the resulting explosion miles away.
The ape directed its attention to the charging crowd of Minotaur and remaining Diamond Dogs. The movement attracted him, and he gave pursuit, curious of what exactly to do with these new playthings. The bodies on the ground stopped and watched in horror as Raging Star unleashed a beam of light from his mouth. The attack collapsed a hillside, burying anything caught in the landslide.
“Take what you can and go!” one of the Minotaur shouted. “I didn’t sign up for giant monster killing!”
“You see death, yet you do not run? You Ponyfolk are strange,” Satyan snorted. The Unicorn did not budge. Raging Star continued his rampage, ignorant of all things around him. Viololá stared at the monster and fell to her knees.
“It was you…” she whispered. “You… that night that the monster attacked… that was you,” she said again, tears swelling up in her eyes.
“I have no clue what you’re babbling about, but I need to regain my mens’ confidence. Finally, I can fight at my full power,” the orange Minotaur gloated.
“Full power?”
“Of course,” he replied with a smirk. “I wouldn’t waste all of it on someone as weak as yourself.”
“What do you intend to do with that thing?” She asked, looking at the ape.
“I’m going to make it heel,” Satyan responded, exerting a large amount of dark magic around his body. “I’m going to make it heel and then use it to conquer Equestria!”
Viololá lifted off of the ground and flew back as a result of the fallout. Whatever veins he had left hidden in his body were now exposed. Every muscle seemed to bulge outward, ludicrously augmented in the shining light of the moon. The Minotaur’s eyes were completely taken over, lacking anything save a crimson glare of power. Magic freely circulated his body like an endless river, adding onto whatever unholy power this being possessed.
“What power… I’ve never felt anything like it!” the Unicorn cried. She shuddered at the thought of these two dangerous forces clashing in the immediate area. It was obvious Satyan cared no more about her, so she quickly fled, making for safer ground out of the canyons. “Raging Star… it all makes sense now,” she said to herself. An explosion from behind caused her to turn her head. Her eyes widened at the flattened landscape in front of the ape.
Wait, you can’t just leave, she thought to herself then, stopping on a hill. Even if the Minotaur can stop him, he’ll eventually use Raging Star against Equestria. She shook her head. “It’s not my concern,” she argued with herself. “I’ll go home and warn the Princesses.” Before she moved, Raging Star’s sapient face flashed in her mind.
What about the boy? Didn’t you say you’d try to help him? “He’s not a boy, he’s a monster,” she shouted, staring at the beast. “He’s the monster that separated me from my family… he’s the reason I was sold into slavery, the reason I wasted seven years of my life rotting in a cell!”
She struggled with herself, wanting to move on, yet strangely glued in place. Another bright light escaped Raging Star’s mouth. He could still actually hit her from this far away with that range. As the urge to escape began to overtake the feeling to stay, Viololá planted her hooves firmly in the ground as she witnessed the massive creature stumbling to the side suddenly. She formed a pair of magic lenses and peered through them, magnifying her vision across the earth. Raging Star stumbled once more, and she could see from what. Mr. Satyan had just swung his fist.
“You see, even my punches are enough to make this creature bend to my whim,” Satyan announced, hovering high over his followers below.
“D-did you know Mr. Satyan could do that?” a worker asked.
“I didn’t even know he could fly!” responded another one.
“Men, gaze upon the true monster that Raging Star is! See what would have become if I just set him free? Why do you think then that I kept him imprisoned at camp, under my careful watch?” Satyan glided over to the enraged ape and formed a magic sphere in his palms. He released the energy into a fiery red beam that shot Raging Star in the shoulder. The ape howled, grabbing its shoulder and falling backwards, causing a large tremor to shake the earth.
“No way, there’s no way that’s Raging Star!” a worker cried out. “But the tail… the monkey tail!”
“It has to be him. No wonder he was always so strong, he was a giant monkey this whole time!”
“And Satyan was doing the world a favor by housing him.”
“We were wrong, we should’ve just left the boy alone!”
“I’m glad you have seen the error of your ways,” Satyan shouted from above. “Now you see that everything I do has a purpose.”
“We are sorry, Mr. Satyan for ever doubting you!” a worker grovelled. The multitude did the same, begging the bull for forgiveness and cheering him on against the beast.
“However, I cannot let sin go unpunished,” he said. The workers looked up, stopping their worship. “You have all rallied against me, and I haven’t punished you like I always have. How can I call myself a bull if I don’t honor my code?”
“W-wait, what are you saying?!” the crowd cried out. Some jumped to their feet and began to run. Others stood in place, unable to move from the spot.
“It’s been a pleasure having you serve me, but you know the penalty for disobedience on such a large scale. The infestation must be purged,” Satyan laughed. Raging Star appeared behind the bull, mouth gaped open and ready to fire upon his back. Just as the attack fired, Satyan vanished in an afterimage, exposing his workers to the beam.
“No, Mr. Satyan! Mr. Satyaaaaaaaan!” The cries of his name vanished along with the immediate landscape. The entire canyon erupted in an explosion, clearing the plateaus and rocky landscape. Raging Star himself was pushed back by the close proximity of the attack, though he did not relent. Satyan’s afterimage had only infuriated him even more. He released volley after volley of fire, trying to hit his target.
“Now come one, I know you have better aim than that!” Satyan shouted, rushing in and smashing the ape in the jaw. Raging Star’s head flew back, but he recovered and brought his arms up to grab his assailant. Satyan shot his arms out in response, holding back the clamp that was the giant ape’s hands.
“Groooooar!!!!” Raging Star howled, increasing his force. Satyan pushed harder, but the ape did the same. The orange bull retreated, descending below the monster and out of its grasp. As he flew up for an uppercut, the ape lifted his chin in the air, causing Satyan to fall short of the attack. Raging Star brought his chin back down, knocking it into Satyan. The bull plummeted to the earth, and the ape raised his feet up high. He pounded the ground where Satyan landed several times, finishing off his assault with a satisfied leap. The resulting force shattered the ground, spreading cracks and fissures all around the country side.
“What a fight,” Viololá said, watching from afar. “To be able to clear the landscape with a single breath… what unholy place spawned this monster?” She began to lose her footing over the mountain due to the coming shockwaves sent out by Raging Star’s leap. Her body fell forward, back down the ravine and into the gorge. She caught herself in time, and made it to the top of a high rock spire, still a good distance away. She could see Raging Star inspecting the ground where a tiny dot suddenly crashed into the earth. She assumed that was Satyan.
The Unicorn increased her magnification, and cringed as Raging Star’s snout was violently latched upon by an oppressive hand.
“That was a dirty trick,” Satyan chuckled, holding the beast’s snout low to the ground. The ape struggled to free itself, but Satyan held on firmly. He cocked his free arm back and swung at Raging Star’s face, knocking the ape backwards. He fell over again, clutching his snout and rolling about frantically. “That was dirtier.”
“I feel… I feel like I have to do something,” Viololá said to herself. “I know that he’s that beast from seven years ago, but I can’t watch him be bullied by this guy.” Her gaze shifted from the battle to the sky. Her eyes widened as the realization suddenly flooded her mind. “I’ll have to do something about that then.”
“Come on Raging Star, show me how wild you can really become!” Satyan flew into the air and created two large energy balls in his hands. He released both attacks on the ape, resulting in another massive combustion. Raging Star emerged from the attack, mouth gaped open and arms flailing about, trying to strike the Minotaur. Satyan avoided the swipes, but was struck from the side by the ape’s tail.
He fell to the earth, creating a large crater in the ground upon impact. The bull erupted from the ground, clinging onto a large boulder as he rocketed back towards the ape boy. Satyan swung the rock at Raging Star, but he swatted the bull away, firing several mouth beams at him simultaneously.
“What? Is he actually getting better as the fight progresses?” Satyan crashed into the side of a mountain, lodged firmly within. Raging Star appeared in front of him now and brought his fist into the side of the mountain. It collapsed, burying Satyan underneath the rubble. The ape rested his feet on the mound and pounded his chest, roaring into the night. The earth below the beast began to rumble then, and he peered down as a flash of light emanated from the rocky debris.
The mountain exploded again, pushing Raging Star away and leaving a very battered Minotaur bull floating in the air.
“You will not get the best of me,” Satyan growled. “I will control you!” He rushed the ape and threw in several hard punches, rocking the monster’s body back and forth. To finish off his opponent, the Minotaur threw his hands together and fired a wave of energy. The attack crashed into Raging Star, knocking him back on his tail.
The ape responded faster than Satyan expected, tossing several mountain-sized boulders in his direction. Satyan snorted out some hot air and blasted each one away with some magic. Upon obliterating the last barrage, Raging Star’s face emerged from the smoke and crashed into Satyan. The bull fell to the floor again, though instead of allowed to rise, his was submitted to the ground as Raging Star stomped on his back.
“GROOOOAR!!!! RAWWWWWR!!!!” The cries and howls of the beast echoed throughout the night. Satyan let out a battle cry of his own and lifted his body up, pushing against the floor with his hands. Raging Star stumbled, allowing Satyan enough room to escape. He flew up to the ape’s face and fired a beam into the monster’s eye. Raging Star howled manically, jumping up and down and grabbing at his face.
“I wonder how you’d like it if I mishandled your backside!” Satyan shouted, swooping down to Raging Star’s tail. He grabbed onto the ape’s posterior extension and pulled, hard. Raging Star howled louder, falling onto his knees and pounding his fists into the ground. “I knew it, it’s still your one and only weak spot,” the Minotaur snorted.
The ape turned his head and glared at the bull. Satyan reeled back and suddenly lifted off of the ground. He was still holding onto the tail as it met the earth once more. Raging Star turned around to face his foe, one-eyed and growling audibly enough to count as a roar. He opened his mouth again, and fired several blasts into the new crater, widening the hole and burning up the surrounding area. Satyan lay in the rubble, beaten to a bloody mess.
“H-he can’t be… this much more… powerful than I,” he choked out. The ape leaned over and snarled at the bull. Satyan growled back, rising from the destruction and knocking the ape with a brutal uppercut. “No! I refuse to lose! You will bend under my command!!!”
Before Raging Star could counter, Satyan was already behind him, smashing furiously into the ape’s back. Raging Star turned around to attack, but Satyan had moved on, assaulting the beast in the snout. He then charged an incredulous amount of magic around his body and rammed into the ape, lifting Raging Star off of his feet and into the side of a mountain. Blood spilled from Raging Star’s mouth.
The ape coughed, trying to stand up straight. Satyan backed away once again and held out his hand. Magic lined his palms as a glowing rune began to spread from under Raging Star. The ape examined the growing pentagram under his feet and stared at the bull.
“You want to know what’s up? I’ll tell you,” Satyan said between short breaths. “I underestimated you in this form, but there’s no way I can lose now. I’ve broken most of your ribs, and you’ve sustained enough damage to be subjected to my spell now.”
As if in defiant response, Raging Star barked at the floating Minotaur. He quickly winced in pain however, and fell to one knee.
“Now, I welcome you as my eternal slave once more, Raging Star!” Satyan lifted his arm up and began chanting. The runes below the ape burst from the ground and wrapped themselves over his body. They began to brand his fur, singing the hairs on his body and tattooing his skin. Satyan watched gleefully as the ape stayed put, unable to even resist. However, he stopped the spell as a new presence entered the area.
“Like I said,” the voice, female in nature, sounded from behind. “I won’t let you take Raging Star!” The Minotaur faced the Unicorn, ready to strike, but dodged an incoming attack by her. The spell zipped over Raging Star and landed a great distance away, exploding in the background.
“I will end you now,” Satyan said, flying over to Viololá. “You’ve interfered too much!” The Unicorn threw her hands in front of her face and shut her eyes tight. Her horn flashed a bright white, and Satyan stopped, grabbing his face and screaming in pain.
“Ursa Major!” Viololá cried out, throwing her hands together. Her palms ignited in sapphire flames as the spell fired a wave of destructive magic at the bull. Satyan was launched back, enveloped again by the ferocious constellation brought to life. His body spun and vaulted out of control until the attack ceased, leaving him on the ground to face the sky.
“Haha… I still have the advantage… my spell will have taken the bo- What?!” Satyan’s eyes widened. From the corner of his eye, he could see the beast shift drastically in size and form. He was getting smaller and smaller by the second. The Minotaur gazed skyward now, and shouted explicatives into the night. The moon, the full moon had vanished. “But, the spell won’t work unless…!”
“I made sure to take care of the moon,” Viololá announced. “That moment I attacked, it was never meant for you.”
“Why you… I’ll kill you!” Satyan tried to get up, but could not move. “What? What did you do to me? What form of magic can overpower mine?”
“It’s the Ursa Major spell, a magic attack passed down the Lulamoon lineage. Upon perfecting such a technique, the spell will render the victim paralyzed, forever. It can only be performed once, and I figured now was a good a time as any.”
“You… you bi-”
“I’ll be taking Raging Star now, as he seems to be back to his normal form. We’ll never see you again. I hope you die here, Satyan,” Viololá said, walking away.
“Damn you! Damn you ponies! Why would you protect such a creature?” Viololá stopped and peered back at Satyan.
“I know what he did, and I can’t find it in my heart to forgive him at the moment,” she began. “But you intend on using him to destroy Equestria, and I can’t allow you to do that. I feel it’s better to house this beast, than let him fall into the wrong hands.”
“Hahaha, listen to yourself… you sound pathetic. Your race will be wiped out, and I will herald in a new age. After Equestria, I may just end up taking over the whole world!”
“I’ll let you mull over those thoughts then, since that’s all you’ll be able to do. I’m sure the Princesses would like to know of your plan,” Viololá stated, moving on now. She ignored the shouts and cries of the raging Minotaur, and peered down the mountainside to see a small, naked, sleeping boy. She descended the cliff and stood over Raging Star’s body.
I should just leave you here along with him... The thought entered her mind for a second, but she leaned down and picked the boy up. His body was bruised and bloody, and his breathing was labored. All damage he had sustained previously transferred to his smaller form. Viololá closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. Her horn began to glow a soft green and the aura covered the boy’s body. The more superficial wounds and flesh scars began to heal, but eventually she had to stop and could no longer help him.
“The rest will have to heal on its own,” she said. She turned around again and witnessed the carnage that had befallen this land. She shuddered at the thought of all of Equestria looking like this. The scene reminded her of Manehattan all those years ago. She had to look away, and studied the peaceful look on the boy’s face.
“You… you…” She didn’t know what she was trying to say. Viololá sighed and still holding the child, she departed, leaving behind the wasteland he had created.
“So close… I was so close,” Satyan growled. He tried once again to move, but his body refused him. He tried to use his magic, but found that even that had been immobilized. Suddenly, his body returned to normal, and all the pain that had been suppressed from the battle ravaged his being.
“That doesn’t look too pleasant,” a shaded figure spoke from the side. Satyan turned his head, despite the pain and snorted at the cloaked stallion.
“Shut up, can you help me?”
“My my, telling me to ‘shut up,’ and then expecting my grace? Where have your manners gone, Mr. Satyan. Don’t tell me the magic has corrupted you that easily?”
“Your magic was useless against the boy. I could not capture him,” Satyan moaned.
“And now, you are stuck on the ground, all of your pressure points, and magic nodes suppressed to an incredible degree, might I add?” The figure chuckled softly.
“It was that damn Unicorn,” Satyan spat.
“Hey, I’m one of those ‘damn Unicorns,’” the stallion responded. He walked over to Satyan’s body and held his hands out. An orange glow surrounded the Minotaur’s body as the stallion moved his arms back and forth. “Quite an impressive technique,” he commented.
“Can you undo it?”
“Of course, I’m just marveling in the beauty of it,” he replied. “All of your pressure points have been abused, and every node in your body that circulates magic has been pinched shut.”
“Undo the spell!”
“Bah, fine, have it your way,” the stallion said, snapping his fingers. Satyan immediately jumped up, flexing every part of his body in relief.
“Hmph… I suppose you’ll want payment for that?” Satyan asked then, rubbing his wrists.
“You promised me quite a hefty sum, remember? I’ll just add this little session to that tab. As it stands though, it doesn’t seem like you will meet your end of the bargain,” the Unicorn said with a raised brow.
“A minor setback,” Satyan replied.
“You have no clue how to use such magic,” the Unicorn berated. “You wasted too much time showing off, that’s why your target escaped.”
“Don’t preach to me, pony,” Satyan growled. The Unicorn smirked.
“Really, have you not heard of the expression, ‘Don’t bite the hoof that feeds you?’” The Unicorn pulled his arm back, as if yanking an invisible piece of rope. Satyan lunged forward, and groaned painfully as a burning red flame began to escape his body.
“What are you doing?!”
“As easily as I gave you those powers, I can take them away,” the Unicorn said grimly. Satyan grunted, trying to win his side of the tug-of-war. “So, listen,” the Unicorn hissed, releasing his grasp. The flame retreated back inside of Satyan.
“Y-yes,” the Minotaur said.
“We have more than enough chances to try this again, but rather than let the beast fall under your control so prematurely, why don’t you let things run their course?”
“What do you mean?”
“No doubt the other Unicorn will try and take Raging Star back to Equestria. She will do so and warn the Princesses of the monster within, but she has no clue that they already know of the boy.”
“How does this help us?”
“Wait until he is in Equestria, then place him under your control. It’ll be much easier to launch a surprise attack rather than take a twenty story ape stomping through various countries, alerting the Equestrians ahead of time!”
“Fine, then I’ll just keep a close eye on them.”
“To ensure that you no longer screw up, I shall accompany you from this point onward,” the Unicorn said then. Satyan groaned. “What? You’ve extinguished your entire fighting force. And besides, in your current state, you’re no match for him, or even the Unicorn, Lulamoon.”
“Once my magic recovers-” Satyan tried to say, but was stopped.
“It won’t, not for a very long time,” the Unicorn chuckled. “That kind of magic takes a while to restore, and you went wasting it away tonight! On Diamond Dogs!”
“Just how long were you watching?”
“Long enough!” the pony replied with a huff. “By the way, way to steal my thunder with the whole, ‘I’ll even take over the world next’ rant.” Satyan put his head down.
“I was caught in the moment…”
“Clearly,” the Unicorn replied. “You will get Equestria as I promised… and I will get the rest of the world, capisce?”