//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 - Heads up // Story: Headless, not Heartless // by Thadius0 //------------------------------// I trudged along through the Everfree forest for some time, thinking about how I'd gotten in the position I'd been. It seemed like such a short time ago. Then again, being chained up for a millennium and a half tends to distort your perception of ti- Just then it finally hit me. Mom. Dad. Jenny. Hell even Richard, the ass. I've been here for a thousand and a half years, if Discord's right. And he usually is. Unless time flow is different between worlds... And as I screamed my rage to the heavens, I remembered... ----- (Dullahan POV – 1505 years ago) “So, you're really into that Golden Sun game and whatnot, right?” I glanced over at Richard from my DS after inputting the final command for the round. “Yeah?” “So who would you say is the total badass in it?” “Honestly?” I scratched my chin a bit as I thought. “I'ma have to go with Dullahan.” “Cheh, yeah right. You always side with the villains.” “No, Dully's not a villain. He shows up in the second game as an optional boss guarding the most powerful summon, with access to the second most powerful. He tends to gloriously slaughter unprepared parties. Even with all the cool shit in the game, you can't win unless you overlevel, or know what's coming.” Surprisingly, Richard nodded. “Alright, and while that is pretty cool, that doesn't put him in the realm of total badass.” I just smiled at him. “Oh yeah? Well, he also shows up in the THIRD game. Implying that either in the second game, the party wasn't supposed to kill him, or he doesn't let a little thing like dying get him down. Plus, set up the right party, you can summon him to do his signature move, which also tends to murder things in a glorious fashion.” Richard was, needless to say, hooked. “Dude. That's awesome. I just got the greatest idea.” I looked over at him from the game, inputting the commands to recover from the latest round. “Listening.” “Right, so you know how Suzy throws bitchin' costume parties?” My smile grew a bit. “Yeah, that last one was crazy.” “What if you go as this Dullahan guy?” I frowned instantly. “Where am I gonna get a suit of plate armor sans helmet, a shield as half as big as I am, and a sword like his?” ----- (3rd POV – Celestia – Current day) “My student, the danger Dullahan poses is nothing like Discord. Where Discord was content with changing the world to suit his whims, Dullahan is capable of bending the very forces of nature to his desires. I will teach you everything I know about fighting him, but even then, we will have to be prepar-” An explosion rocked from the Everfree, and smoke billowed from it. The ponies could vaguely hear shouting coming from the forest. “The forest! The animals! Who would do such a thing?” Celestia sighed and lowered her head. “Dullahan tends to let his emotion get the better of him, and his magic responds in kind. I would say, right now, he is very angry.” Dragon fume! Searing beam! A long ribbon of fire leaped up from the aflame forest and crashed into a nearby field. A searing hot beam lanced from the treeline and made its way to Celestia, who put up a shield and waited for it to dissipate, though she did seem to strain a bit. An armored bipedal figure wielding a sword seemingly made of crystal stalked out of the forest towards the gathered ponies. Luna, who hadn't had time to leave yet, instantly rushed the figure. Said figure responded by raising the sword to the sky. It was then that the ponies noticed the figure was missing a helmet. And a head. Mostly because that was when it 'spoke' to them. Oh, blow it out your ass, Luna! Mighty Guard! The voice was deep and commanding. But it was what the sword did that caught the eyes of every pony but Luna. The sword flashed red, and a similar red aura covered the figure before vanishing as quickly as it came. Luna didn't notice or didn't care, and moved to strike the figure's right hand, the one that was clasping the sword. The blow glanced off, and the sword came around and smacked into her side, sending her careening into the newly imprisoned Discord. And before you get any ideas, Celly! Element Swap, Jupiter! Greater Ward! The sword flashed purple, and a purple aura coated the figure and vanished just as swiftly, before the figure sheathed its sword. Celestia merely stared at the figure. “Dullahan.” Celly. I'm only going to ask this once. Where the fuck did you take my goddamned SHIELD?! “Question for a question, Dullahan. How did you get out? The chains were meant to be unbreaking.” Yeah well maybe if you were THERE to maintain them, or hadn't left me alone for a thousand and a half years, they might have been more inclined to hold me! Once Dissy gave me my sword, I had all the strength I needed to get free. “I see. And to answer your question, your shield is in Canterlot, under heavy guard. It was one of the few relics we did take with us. We could not risk any other pony getting a hold of it.” That's surprisingly smart of you. Nonetheless, I'll find it sooner or later. You'd best hope it's sooner. Now my other question that I have for you. And at this the figure stalked up to the sun diarch and somehow growled. Where. The fuck. Are my pets. WHERE ARE THE DJINN?! At the sudden menacing sound, Luna stirred herself and pointed at the armored figure. “Cur! How didst thou stop what was previously an effective means of disarming thou and rendering thou harmless?” The figure turned towards Luna and let out an amused chuckle. Somehow. Oh, so little miss moon is getting up? Well, if you thought that I was just going to let history repeat itself, you must have thought me a fool! I thought of that technique ages ago, and only just now got to use it! I'm glad to see it worked, though! The figure turned back to Celestia and growled again. Question for a question, Celly. Where are my fucking Djinn? What the fuck did you do with them?! Celestia flinched a little at the profanity and anger with which the words were projected. “I...I do not know...” The figure snarled and reached out to grab Celestia by the neck. Her horn lit up and slung spell after spell at the figure, but they all bounced off it, each time letting off a purple flash. The ponies nearby all screamed for their princess, but the figure merely yelled at them. STAY BACK, ALLA YA! Miss Sun here has a question to answer, otherwise things are gonna get reaaaaal dicey in here. Gasping, Celestia managed to answer the figure again. “Dullahan, when we took your armaments, we saw four odd creatures, briefly, but in a span of seconds, they had disappeared. If those were your pets, your 'djinn', then they have been gone as long as you have.” The figure growled at her and threw her to the ground. You expect me to believe that in all that time, you never once thought of looking for them, of hunting them down so that you could see what our relation was? The figure drew its sword and pointed it at the sun diarch. I find that hard to believe, Celly. Element Swap, Mercury! The sword flashed purple, then blue, and the figure continued. Maybe a cooler head will help you remember. Diamond Dust! Instantly, winds whipped up, but these were no normal winds. These were cold, artic winds, carrying a hint of ice. But soon it wasn't just a hint, and soon huge chunks of it were flying around, battering into ponies. While they were all dealing with not gaining ice-induced head trauma, nopony noticed the huge figure walking off in the direction of Canterlot.