//------------------------------// // True Believers // Story: Living Ink // by MangaKamen //------------------------------// Moonlight slithered through the night sky, blending into the neon lights that were bolted to the steel skyscrapers. The midnight sky was slowly blanketed by dark clouds that sparked with lightning and sounded with thunder. “YOU DARE TO CHALLENGE A KING!” But that roar was enough to silence even the forces of nature. Atop of the tallest building in the city, its silver claws digging into the water tower that was built upon it, stood a tall dragonic creature. Unlike regular dragons, this one was barely over seven feet tall, but its black scaled body was a mountain of muscle that was covered with crimson armor that glowed dully. The dragon lifted his right claw up, holding it up so from his blue eyed point of view, it looked as though he could grab the very moon between the clouds. “You know not your place in this world, young colt – You of four legs have no claim to this world’s precious gifts! You manipulate the world as if it were nothing more than clay to be molded in your hooves. “That is not how this world should be! And I, as this world’s true king, shall break the chains that you Equines have wrapped around this world!” “Where’s the logic in that?” The dragon’s gaze slowly turned back towards the roof, where a single stallion stood in front of the supposed true king. The shadows cast by the storm clouds covered the stallion’s body for the most part, but his red eyes glowed brightly and his right hoof, which was covered with blue armor and had a rather odd brass knuckle attachment on it. “If you continue with this insane plan of yours, do you know how many ponies will suffer?!” “Oh? It speaks,” The dragon crossed his arms over his broad chest, and closed his eyes. “But what’s this? This piece of trash is only speaking gibberish! It is a small price to pay, my friend. Or should I say ‘the garbage that was once my friend’? After all this world has done to you, I would figure that you of all ponies would stand at my side. “But rather, you stand before me – Opposing the true king of this world!” The stallion lifted his bulky armored hoof up, “A true king wouldn’t make this kind of decision! He wouldn’t sacrifice others just for an insane…” “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!” the dragon laughed loudly before he slammed his claws into each other, sparking up a powerful flame around the silver claws. “What do you know about the role of a king? What do you know about how I had to crawl my way past everything in order to become a king?! “You are nothing more than a pawn of the false ‘royalty’ of this land! I shall awaken you to your senses!” The stallion lowered his head, “… I guess there’s no other way, is there?” “You knew this would happen,” The dragon answered back as the flames began to grow more intense around his claws. “You knew the moment that you stood before me that this would be our destiny… “Even if I wasn’t a King – this is what would happen.” The dragon’s wings quickly stretched out and he lept from the water tower, his tail smashing into the construct as he flew. “Prepare to face the power of a king! JUNK!” The stallion crouched down, and at his side, two straight wings unfolded as blue energy began to course from behind them. “KING!” The two flew towards each other, the dragon’s claws extended forward while the pegasus spun about, the blue aura surged around his right hoof. “I don’t know about this, I don’t really like seeing a dragon as the bad guy.” TTT – TTT “I don’t really like seeing a dragon as the bad guy.” “Aw c’mon Spike, don’t stop, this sounds like it was just getting to the good part!” Spike sighed loudly as he lowered the comic book in his claws, “If you’re so interested in the book, Scootaloo, why don’t you get it?” “Hey, you know what they say,” The young, orange pegasus chuckled. “Why buy the book, when the library is free?” “You know that’s not how the saying goes,” Spike sighed before he closed the comic book. It had only been a few hours since Spike was given the ‘royal task’ of watching the Cutie Mark Crusaders while Twilight was on official royal business while they were in Canterlot. The trio of small fillies was in the midst of their usual Twilight Time when the alicorn princess received a letter that requested her to attend the certain princess-y duties that came with her title. When they ‘accidentally’ learned that Twilight and her friends were on their way to Canterlot within the foreseeable future, the three fillies begged the princess to let them come to Canterlot – Since the last time they did, there was that huge invasion of Changelings, the wedding ate up most of their time as flower-fillies, and a myriad of other reasons. So, after getting permission from their parents, and promising that they’d follow Twilight’s every word, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were set to go to Canterlot. However, that’s where Spike came into play. The Cutie Mark Crusaders weren’t obviously allowed to attend the Royal Duties, and Twilight obviously couldn’t have the three fillies on their own in Canterlot (not because it was dangerous, but rather they’d probably get lost in the large city), so it was on Spike’s shoulders that he’d watch the three fillies while Twilight and the others were dealing with the royal duties. And that’s what led the young dragon and three fillies here – To the Spectacular Comic Book shop, one of the few shops that Spike actually visited on a daily basis way back when he and Twilight lived in Canterlot. “Well, well, if it isn’t Spike! How you been champ?” Both Spike and Scootaloo turned to see an older stallion, a tan furred unicorn with a white, short mane that was combed back with an accompanied mustache and thick sunglasses that covered his eyes. He was quite old, but seemed to display a rather unique energy to him. And adorned on his flank was a bright red ‘M’ that had a yellow border around it. Spike smiled at the stallion, “Oh you know, just trying to keep royalty in check – Being awesome…” “So I hear,” The older stallion chuckled before he nudged the dragon with his right front leg. “I’m surprised you haven’t been turned into a comic book hero yet, Spike. I give it a few years.” “Who’s this?” Scootaloo asked, although her attention was still on the comic that Spike had in his claws. “This is Stanley,” Spike introduced as he pulled the comic away. “He owns this shop.” “Welcome newcomer to the Spectacular Comic shop!” Stanley greeted with a wave of his hoof. “I take it those two other fillies running around are with you too, Spike?” The young dragon turned about to the side with a flat look in his eyes and sighed loudly, “Yeah…” Stanley only laughed in return, “It’s good to see such young ponies take an interest in this – After all, comic heroes are our modern day mythology.” “Yeah but Stanley,” Spike brought up as he crossed his arms. “The last comic you suggested to me didn’t exactly turn out the way I wanted.” Stanley rubbed the back of his head with a nervous grin on his face, “Well, you said you wanted a story that could suck you in.” “Yeah, but I didn’t mean literally!” Spike retorted as he waved his arms around. “Sorry, sorry,” Stanley replied, a hoof lifted up defensively. “I didn’t mean to do that to you. How about I make it up to you though? You told me that you really liked Radiance from the comic, so how about I give you an issue from her solo series? Surely that would make things right between me and one of my favorite customers, right?” Spike smiled brightly, “Wait, she had her own comic?! Yeah! That’d be awesome!” “Hey, what about this one?” Scootaloo interrupted before she took the comic that was under Spike’s arm and held it up to Stanley. “You got any more of this one?” Stanley pushed up his sunglasses to get a better look at the book in question, “Oh, is that Junk Maverick? I haven’t seen this stallion in a while, you got good taste young lady. If you give me a few minutes, I’m sure I can find a few back issues.” “Thanks!” Scootaloo replied after she tossed the comic back to Spike. “I wanna see all of them!” “Hey, hey!” Spike yelped as he struggled to get a good grip on the comic. “I don’t have that many bits on me! It’s going to be one comic each!” Scootaloo’s ears drooped down slightly, but then shot back up when an idea immediately popped into her head, “Alright! Just give me a second!” “Huh?” Spike questioned as he watched the young filly dash away. The dragon sighed under his breath. “Ah to be that young and small,” Stanley chuckled with a large smirk. “But enough of my ramblings, let’s get that Radiance comic for you, shall we?” Placing the Junk Maverick on the shelf, Spike followed after the older stallion, unaware that the comic book he just placed down had an odd magical aura floating around it for a few moments before it faded away. Meanwhile, in another portion of the comic book store, two other fillies stood at a shelf that had some figures mounted on it – one of the fillies was a white unicorn with a light purple and light faded rose colored mane that curled while the other was a yellow earth pony with a thick red mane and tail, with her mane with a large pink bow in it. “Ah just don’t get it Sweetie Belle, why do ponies want these things?” “Well, maybe they just want to see their favorite characters,” the unicorn answered back, taping an earth pony figure that was dressed in a white jumpsuit that had several pink arrows on it. “Some ponies do like them, Apple Bloom.” “Yeah, but they don’t bend or anything,” Apple Bloom sighed back. “Ah mean, aren’t they toys to play with?” “I… I don’t really know why,” Sweetie Belle replied her ears lowered slightly. “Maybe…” “Girls!” Both of the young mares turned to the side to see Scootaloo running up to them, but stopped at the last second. “I… I need to ask a huge favor from you two!” “Sure Scoots, anything for a fellow crusader!” Apple Bloom replied with a smile. “Well, there’s this comic I found,” Scootaloo explained as she waved her hooves about. “And it’s so awesome cause it’s got this pegasus fighting against a dragon and it’s so awesome that I can’t just stop at one issue, so please! Can you two help me out, please?!?” “Um, sure, but what can we do?” Applebloom asked, trying to catch up with everything that Scootaloo just said. “I think she wants us to pitch in for the comics,” Sweetie Belle answered. “I don’t mind helping out, but how many comics are you planning on buying?” “Uh, well, I don’t really know,” Scootaloo admitted as she rubbed the back of her head. “No need to worry, newcomer!” The three fillies turned towards the bookshelf right behind them to see Stanley poking his head over the shelf with his horn glowing brightly with a thicker version of the comic book that Scootaloo had looked at earlier, “I managed to find a paperback of it – It’s got quite a few issues in it and it doesn’t cost too much for the amount of comics in it.” “Really?!” Scootaloo stated with her hopes immediately raised. But then reality struck, and her ears drooped slightly. “Um, how much?” Stanley smiled brightly as he lowered the comic to Scootaloo’s back, “Tell you what, since I’m a fan of the fans, I’ll give you a discount on this, so no worries! After all, every comic book is one pony’s first – So, consider your first purchase on discount.” “Wow, really?” All three of the fillies asked at the same time. TTT – TTT Several rose petals lofted about the lush garden in the warm breeze as Junk Maverick slowly stepped along the cobblestone path, his goggle covered eyes dashed about the area with every step that he took. Roses, tulips, daisies and other brightly colored flowers adorned the sides of the rocky path and the blue sky above was clear of any clouds… It was calm, almost too calm… “Why?” Junk’s ears that stuck out from the top of his blue helmet shot up as he spun about to search for the source of that voice that echoed throughout the garden. “Why do you persist in following me? I’m nothing more than a monster…” Junk didn’t say a word as he continued his trek through the garden. “I deserve to wither away. That is the fate of all monsters of this world.” Once again, Junk didn’t say a word, he just continued onwards, his red lens covered eyes now set on the large statue of a weeping mare, thorny vines clutched around the statue’s body. His eyes lowered slightly a short cloaked figure who was huddled next to the base of the statue, several strands of rose red hair meshed up against the ground where the cloaked figure’s head and tail rested, and ripped from the top of the cloak’s hood was a rose ebony horn that sparked with magical energy. Junk stopped for a moment to take in the sight before he lifted one of his hooves up. “STOP!” And so, the blue armored stallion did so. The cloaked figure lifted their hood covered head up, revealing a porcelain mask that had glowing white eyes. “Don’t take another step closer!” Not wanting to provoke her, Junk Maverick froze, which was difficult since his right front hoof had more armor and was heavier for his limb. “I… I didn’t want to hurt anypony,” The cloaked pony warned, lowering her head. “I… I just can’t… Just leave me alone! Just let this monster wither away! You don’t need to take me in!” It was then that Junk continued forward, his hoofsteps echoed through the Garden. The cloaked pony lifted her head up to see the blue armored pegasus come closer to her, “No… NO!” The cloaked pony’s horn sparked up, and the ground began to rumble greatly, but still, Junk continued onwards. The sparks from the cloaked pony’s horn lit up even more, and from the ground several vines covered with thorns erupted and whipped about the garden. As the vines whipped about, they crashed into the flowers and tore up the very earth around the garden. Several of the vines then struck the armored pegasus, not only denting his armor but sent him staggering back. After taking a few breaths, the stallion lifted his head up and continued onwards, even when the vines struck his sides… “THIS WORLD WOULD BE BETTER OFF WITHOUT ME! JUST LEAVE!” When the cloaked unicorn lifted her head up to see if the armored stallion had followed her pleas, but gasped when she realized that Junk Maverick was now in front of her – His armor extremely dented and even cracked at places, even his right goggle had a large crack in it. She inched back when he lifted one of his hooves up to her, “N-No… Stay away! STAY AWAY!” However, that’s when something happened that surprised the cloaked pony – Junk Maverick’s front legs were wrapped around her and brought her close in a surprisingly warm embrace. His head was next to hers and when he spoke, it was in a calm manner. “Everything in this world is essential. If even trash like me can find purpose, then surely a rose like you should have no problem – Even if you have thorns.” “Hey Scoot, what you reading there?” TTT - TTT The young pegasus lifted her head up, her attention drawn from the colorful pages of the comic book and drawn to the colorful mane colored, sky blue furred pegasus who sat across from her. After the comic book shop, it wasn’t long till Scootaloo and the others were picked up, and it was time to return to Ponyville – Hence, they were now on a train headed home. The older blue pegasus, Scootaloo’s model and hero, was Rainbow Dash – One of the fastest fliers in all of the world, if not THE fastest. With a slightly nervous smile, Scootaloo closed the trade paperback before she lifted it up so Dash could see the comic’s cover, which showed a rather odd looking pegasus dressed in blue armor about to slam its right front hoof into a dragon’s fiery claw, “It’s just a comic book that I got today – Junk Maverick!” “Junk Maverick?” Dash muttered as she leaned forward to get a closer look at the book in question. “Hmm, looks kinda weird.” “Well, yeah,” Scootaloo admitted with that smile growing. “But he kinda reminds me of you – Brave, strong, and… And… I thought that maybe it’d…” “Alright, I gotta see this,” Dash stated as she jumped from her seat and got on the same one with Scootaloo. “Mind if I take a peek?” “Of course, Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo replied as she opened the comic book once more. TTT – TTT Nearly the entire city of Detrot was covered with ice as Junk Maverick landed atop of one of the few patches of unfrozen ground, the weight of his armor actually managing to crack the concrete that he landed on. For a few moments, the armored pegasus looked about, “Yeesh, first the magical energy gets negated, then the place gets covered in vines, and now the city’s trapped in a perpetual ice rink. “Can’t Detrot go three days without being threatened by some supernatural force?” “Sorry, but I had to make a cool entrance,” A rather suave voice called out. “It’s rather standard in this profession.” Junk turned his attention up towards one of the streetlamps where a single stallion stood on – A rather tall stallion with icy cerulean fur and a long black mane that billowed backwards in the cold air to show his rather handsome face – Which was marred by the long scar that crossed both of his eyes and under his long horn. The stallion was dressed in a large blue coat that had a black furred collar around his neck, and adorned on his face was a large smirk. “Junk Stallion… Right?” “Maverick actually,” the blue armored stallion corrected as the odd unicorn leapt from the lamppost and land effortlessly on the icy ground. “You’re the one who’s behind this sudden cold snap, aren’t you?” “Most ponies believe that only Pegasai can control the weather,” the unicorn answered back as he playfully trotted the icy terrain. “So why would you assume that I am the one who did this?” “You’re the only one not frozen,” Junk pointed out, turning to the side to see a police pony frozen in a goofy fashion with a donut in his muzzle. All over the street, there were several other ponies who had fallen to the same fate, with the smiling unicorn skating over the ice and stopped easily to lean on a rather attractive mare. “Hmm, good point. Don’t you think they look better this way? Frozen in time, capturing their beauty… But I suppose I shouldn’t waste time on my frivolous past-times.” The icy unicorn turned his attention back to Junk. “The name’s Essha – But some like to call me the Monarch of Blizzards. Don’t know why, since I’m not royalty – I’m just a seeker of beauty.” “Are they dead?” Junk questioned. Essha sighed as his eyes narrowed slightly, “Yeesh, is that all you can think about? Their lives? What a waste of brain cells. Well, allow me to settle that mind of yours – You ever hear of a Windigo? They’re winter spirits that can feed off fighting and hatred, how they feed is by freezing their food supply. “It wouldn’t make sense to kill the source of their food – So there’s a spell that freezes their food source, but puts them into a deep sleep that keeps them alive for quite a long time. But if you don’t believe me…” Essha’s horn glowed brightly and the ice around the mare he was leaned up against began to melt away. The mare shook her head, but then realized that Essha was now leaned up against her, he smiled and waved a hoof, “Hello there beautiful.” The mare’s eyes widened before she ran off, leaving Essha to stand on his own. When she was a few yards, Essha’s light gray eyes began to glow a bright cyan along with his horn. Then from both his eyes and horn, a surge of icy blue light surged through the air towards the running mare. KER-CRACK! A large amount of cold mist popped around where the mare stood and Essha closed his eyes as the last of his magic began to fade from his body. “I hope the pose is good – The last one was just perfect, and I’m not a fan of running poses.” When the mist dispersed and Essha opened his eyes, he narrowed at the sight of only a large icicle that pointed through the air. When he turned to the side, he saw Junk Maverick flying through the air with his jet-like wings with the mare held up in his hooves. “Hmm…” Quickly setting the mare down in a safe place, Junk watched her run off before he turned his goggle gaze towards Essha. “You think this is some sort of game?” “That’s a bad analogy,” Essha replied as the aura appeared in his eyes and over his horn once more, however the ice began to cover his hooves and crawl up his body. “I said I am a pursuer of beauty, and by that nature, I will destroy all things that stain this beautiful world!” The ice completely covered Essha’s body, however, it continued to grow until it formed into a giant stallion made of ice that was covered with armor .“And unfortunately for you, Trash, to both me and those who hired me, you are one of those stains! One that I will gladly remove!” The large icy stallion galloped towards the still in flight Junk Maverick, and before the armored stallion could fly out of the way, the Icy Stallion of Essha slammed Junk right through the nearby building with a large amount of debris flying about. Thankfully they were in the empty building district of Detrot, so nobody was in the building when the two crashed through the wall. Junk Maverick was pinned under Essha’s giant icy hoof, “This world is full of beauty – But, at the same time it’s sullied by the trash of this world! I am the one who will cleanse this world with my ice! “You and this city shall be the first to be cleansed!” KER-RACK! Junk Maverick slammed his right hoof into the icy hoof and shattered it into millions of shards that danced about the empty building’s floor. It allowed the armored stallion to fly to freedom. “You know, you’re starting to sound like…” “The Red Demon Dragon – King, right?” Essha’s voice echoed out from the large ice stallion. “But unlike him, I can see the beauty of ponykind!” “I was gonna say like a crazy pony,” Junk coughed to the side as the brass knuckle on his larger right armored hoof hooked at the end of his hoof. “But that works too!” “How lovely, the trash as a mouth on him,” Essha’s voice cackled as the stallion made of ice’s damaged leg began to reform. “I applaud your candor – But do you believe that you can win? From what I’ve heard, you’re made up of only junk parts…” “Hey, being a flying trash heap can be helpful at times,” Junk retorted as the blue light from his wings propelled him forward. “Like stopping lunatics like you from turning ponies into ice sculptures!” The large stallion made of ice neighed loudly before it galloped forward, while Junk spun around and threw his right hoof right towards the oncoming ice giant… KA-BOOM! TTT - TTT Scootaloo jumped and nearly tossed the comic book out of her hooves when she heard that lightning bolt crash in the distance. It had been an hour or so when the train had returned to Ponyville and dropped off its passengers, the moment it did the three fillies made a dash to their own personal club house that was tucked away in the orchard of Apple Bloom’s family: Sweet Apple Acres. The clubhouse was where the three would make plans to get their Cutie Marks or just generally just have fun like little ponies should. And while most of their activities were rather… interesting (including zip lining and scuba diving!), it was still a small corner of the world they could call their own, filled with items that reminded them of their cutie mark seeking activities. All three of the fillies looked out the window to see that in the distance, clouds began to darken with bolts of lightning crashing from the dark clouds. Scootaloo tilted her head slightly, “Was there a storm set for today?” “Maybe,” Sweetie Belle yawned before she pushed back the comic she was reading onto one of the shelves. “But it’s getting kind of late…” “Yeah, and Ah’m pretty sure my sister wouldn’t like us staying up late here in the clubhouse,” Applebloom sighed, standing up on her hooves. “So, tomorrow morning we’ll meet here to figure out what to try for our Cutie Marks – Maybe we could be Cutie Mark Crusader Superheroes!” “But isn’t that kind of dangerous?” Sweetie Belle stated as the three made their ways to the door of the clubhouse. “I mean, don’t heroes need to fight against evil? Don’t we usually leave that to my sister and…” “Yeah, but heroes don’t just fight bad guys,” Scootaloo pointed out. “They help ponies – Fighting bad guys is only part of the job, besides, we could get awesome costumes!” “Maybe we should ask Rarity if she can make us some,” Applebloom suggested. “I don’t know…” Sweetie Belle muttered under her breath. “She might be busy…” And with that, the door to the club house closed behind the three fillies. However, from the opened window, a strong breeze pushed the cover open. Books are a marvelous thing. By simply turning a page, you can be drawn into an entirely new world. And this isn’t just limited by text books – Comic books also have this effect. The only difference is that you’re given images to go along with the story so you can follow along with. Now with the cover opened, the pages of the book began to flap about in the wind. Whether it be pictures with text, or just the words alone, books can allow a reader to see into another world – A world of ‘what if’s, to see hypothetical events in order to learn about ourselves, and to just enjoy the exploits of characters whom we can relate to. From the pages of the paperback comic, several small lights began emerging from the colorful pages. But are these worlds trapped in pages mere fiction? Or is there truth in a world made up of only words and drawn pictures? A chance to see into the mind of the book’s creator? Are the characters real? Are the characters just figments of somepony’s imagination? Five lights flew from the pages, four of them being freed from the clubhouse by going out the window, while the fifth had hit the side of the window frame and landed on the clubhouse floor. Whether you believe these characters are real or not, the emotions they convey are – The experiences they show us, the scars they receive, they are all too real for us and can show us ways of living that have never crossed our minds before. But hey, this is all just one comic book fan’s perspective. You’re more than welcomed to think whatever you’d like about fictional characters and their impact on us. However, if those same characters are brought into your world – Given their own strengths and weaknesses, would you believe that they were real? Would you believe that what lessons they taught hold more strength? The light on the clubhouse floor began to grow and form into a bulky armored form, with glowing red eyes that flashed for a few seconds before they faded into black. Meanwhile, another of the mysterious lights flew through the air and crashed into a deep, dark, yet lush forest. The moment that it struck against a tree, it fell to the ground and formed into a tall, seven foot form with horns atop of its head and glowing blue eyes. The figure took a few deep breaths and then lifted its head up to see the setting sun, “The air… This air, I can feel it. Nature.” Digging his claws into the dirt, the large figure pulled out a large lump of soil and allowed it to flow between his claws, “I don’t believe it – actual soil that hasn’t been marred by the hooves of these ponies.” His blue eyed gaze turned up towards the clouds above that moved about, “And the clouds – They move freely!” Spreading his large wings, the large form flew up into the air to get a better look at the forest around him. “An entire forest! Is this what I have been searching for? The true land of the kings?” The large winged form turned his attention towards one end of the forest, and his eyes narrowed down at the sunset – With a town at the edge of the horizon, being shadowed from the light of the sun. The form growled loudly as he clenched his claws tightly, “No, even here the land of kings has become sullied! “… I’ll have to deal with this myself. As a true king, I shall show these equines that this land is not to be tampered with!” However, the large figure merely pulled his wings back and crashed into the forest grounds, his large clawed feet creating an impact into the earth, “Tonight, I rest and give them one night’s reprieve. “But when next the sun rises, the true King shall roar!” TBC