//------------------------------// // A Reign of Terror Ends, And Freedom Begins // Story: Guardian of the Everfree // by KaBar42 //------------------------------// Guardian of the Everfree Chapter 13 “It what?” Shining Armor nearly roared, not at his sister, but more at the world in general. “Shiny, please, calm down. I don’t think he realized that I was… well, stone.” Twilight responded to her brother. The room they were in more than adequate to house the three alicorns, squad of royal guards, seventeen judges, and four unicorns. “It… it… peed on you!” Shining retorted. “Yes, and he obviously thought I was nothing but a statue, he didn’t even know what the cockatrices were.” “I’m sorry dear, but if I may ask, weren’t you already attacked by a cockatrice earlier this year?” Twilight’s mother, Twilight Velvet, asked. “Yes, why?” “Well, if you were attacked before, how did you get attacked again?” At this inquiry, Twilight blushed, and took on a sheepish smile. Moving her hoof to rub the back of her head. “They attacked me in a pack.” “I’m sorry, but if I may,” Celestia interrupted. “Did you say he stared at the cockatrices for three minutes?” “Yes, and then he… uh, he killed them.” “Which freed you from your stone prison.” Luna stepped up, bandages around her chest as well as the wing that had been shot. A slow walk, even for the short distance due to her broken ribs. “This is indeed a dangerous creature, strong enough to break my ribs. And now this surprise, being immune to a cockatrice. This is not good, at all.” “Why, Princess Luna?” Twilight asked. “Child,” Luna Began. “Can you tell me a creature that is immune to a cockatrice. Do any of your books have a list of creatures that can defeat a cockatrice head on?” Twilight thought hard, not being able to recall any entry like that. “No, I’m sorry Princess, I can’t say I do.” “That’s because there is nothing on Anima that can mitigate the magic of a Cockatrice, much less beat it in a head on fight. Barring your friend Fluttershy, of course. But even then, the only reason she beat it was because of her talent to deal with animals. She was nearly turned to stone in the process, wasn’t she?” Luna questioned. “Yes, she was.” “And yet this creature was able to stare at three cockatrices with no ill effect.” Celestia added. One of the judges spoke. “I’m sorry, but I thought we were holding this to decide what to do, should the creature every come into the penal system’s hooves.” “Ah, yes, I apologize Judge Stalwart we sh-“ Celestia was cut off as a letter materialized from thin air in front of her in a whoosh of green flames. “Twilight, I believe this would be for you. Spike would have no reason to contact me without you.” Celestia said, silently passing the letter over to Twilight in her magic. Twilight taking hold of the letter, scanning her eyes over it. Her eyes got wider, as she scanned over the letter again. “No, oh, this isn’t good.” She mumbled to herself, as the other ponies in the room looked curiously to her. “May I ask what’s wrong, Twilight?” Celestia questioned. “They’ve lost Sweetie, Applebloom, and Scootaloo. In the Everfree.” “You mean those three fillies that don’t have their cutiemarks? Luna asked. “Into the creature’s domain?” Stalwart asked worriedly. While Celestia sought to quell the slight panic that was forming. “I don’t think we need to worry about him harming the little ones. he only appears to attack things that attempt to harm him.” “The letter mentions something about two dead diamond dogs and an open dog hole.” Twilight sated. “Well, then, let’s hope that this creature is as neutral as he seems.” “I need to get down there and help!” Twilight shouted, the panic now just setting in. “A teleport would be faster, Luna, gather two platoons of guards and get them down to Ponyville as quickly as possible.” Celestia said, quickly. As her horn glowed and enveloped Twilight and herself in a gold bubble. Luna limped out of the room, followed by a Shining Armor who was slipping on his helmet. Leaving the judges and the pink alicorn. ‘This is interesting.’ She thought to herself. I put three shots into another dog that was charging, the dog falling. Damnit, I had let that stallion out of his cage and gave him the keys, and not five minutes later all Hell breaks loose. I went loud and just started shooting the damn mutts. And now I was stuck in something that was akin to rat tunnels in Vietnam. Thankfully, these tunnels were large enough to stand up in. About nine feet tall. And disgusting as fuck. The smell of something decomposing reaching me, even though my mask. I stepped over the dog’s body after putting a round in its skull to be safe. A fork, right or left? “Dante, you’re going to want to want to take a left, when you take the left, you’ll come to a chamber.” Faust thankfully gave me the directions. Scanning to my left, I dropped the mag which only had a couple of rounds in it and replaced it with a fresh mag. And there’s the chamber. Not as big as the slave-holding room, but still big. There, at the far end of the room, a lone door, protected by two dogs with spears. The precipice I’m standing on has a fence, and about a fifteen foot. The adrenaline is pumping now, but I jog to the fence, climb over it, and drop. I fall and land on my feet, bent as I roll. The roll finishes and I pick myself back up, raising my vector and putting three rounds into one of the charging dogs and another three rounds into the other one. Running to the door, I slam myself against the left side of the door, pressing myself against the left side of the door. I drop the magazine and, again, replace it with a new one. “Faust, can you tell me how may are in there?” “Four Diamond Dogs, one pony, and the three fillies.” Awesome. I move so I’m standing in front of the door, the vector raised. I position my foot over the door knob. In most cases, the place that fails on a door is the frame. I kick, the door swings inwards. A room with two tables on either side of with what looks like binders laying on them, creating a row. Another two farther into the room. The walls made of Earth and chairs randomly placed. Four dogs turn to face me. I quickly sight the vector put six shots in total into the nearest two, and switch to the other two. Two three-short bursts put those two out of commission. A stallion, yellow with a blond mane, unicorn, that was behind these four dogs tried to run, carrying in his… magical grasp a cage containing the three, cowering fillies. I shot once, the shot hitting him in the stifle. The stallion fell forward from the unexpected force and pain, as the cage fell from his grasp, tumbling on the floor. I wasted no time in getting to him, as he attempted to pick himself up, I grabbed him by his horn and slammed his head into the ground. The stallion flailed his limbs as I picked him up by his horn and forced him to a wll. Holding him up by nothing except the horn. As he continues flailing, I pull the .45 out of it’s holster, my vector resting on my chest. I did the barrel of the .45 into the bottom of his chin, he seems to get the message as he stops flailing and his eyes widen. My finger begins to pull down on the trigger. “Dante wait!” Faust yells. “What?” Don’t give him the reprieve of death. Not after the sins he has committed. Destroying the lives of children and innocents for his own pleasure.” My mind immediately connects the two and I feel nothing but rage. Pulling the stallion forward and slamming him back into the wall. I drop him and grab him by one of his legs, dragging him closer to the door as he attempts to grab something. I kick up one of the dog’s spears, grabbing it. I flip one of the tables near the door over and face the top so it’s facing the three fillies, they don’t need to see this. I drag the stallion behind the table. Apple Bloom could do nothing but watch as the strange bipedal creature dragged the unicorn behind the table. She didn’t want her cutie-mark to be an alien-hunter anymore. Especially if this is what aliens do. When the screams started, though. That’s when the CMC truly cowered, as they pressed up against each other, their primal instincts telling them safety in numbers, the only thing they felt was fear. And this wasn’t “monsters hiding in my closet” fear. This was pure unadulterated fear for their lives. This mixed with them not knowing what the creature was doing to that stallion, their eyes screwed shut. They prayed to Celestia, prayed that the creature had no interest in little fillies. The screaming stopped, as it turned into pitiful sobbing. The CMC didn’t open their eyes until something… soft, gently lifted them out of the cage one by one. The first to go was Sweetie Belle, who yelped, and the other two were quickly, but gently pulled out of the cage. They opened their eyes to see the odd biped, towering over them, The stallion curled up in a fetal position behind him. The biped, seemingly only having one eye and some sort of mask on. Grabbing the stallion, the biped began walking forwards, towards a tunnel that was unlit. He stopped, twisted himself unnaturally to face the three fillies while his legs stayed pointed towards the tunnel, and made a strange motion with his odd hooves. The fillies took this as a motion to follow the creature, which so far, hadn’t harmed them. As they reached the mouth of the tunnel, the biped stopped, dropping the hindleg of the stallion. Who immediately curled back up into a fetal position. The biped dug around in one the pockets on the strange leg coverings it had on. After a few seconds, it produced something from the pocket, it looked like a stick. Clicking a button, the three fillies recoiled, shaking and covering their eyes, the biped knelt down to half his height, yet he still towered over them. A beam of light coming out of the stick he had produced, pointing at the ceiling. He brought his hoof over to the three as Apple Bloom slowly uncovered her eyes and stopped shaking. The meaning behind this action was obvious, take it. Apple Bloom slowly gripped the stick between her two hooves, as she moved it to her mouth. The biped, seemingly satisfied with the action, slowly rose to his towering height, and grabbed the stallion’s hindleg, dragging him again. As the stallion moaned and sobbed pitifully. They began the trek down the tunnel, the biped seemingly unbothered by the lack of any natural or unnatural light in front of him. And the fillies thankful for the light-stick he gave them. After about five minutes of walking they came to the end of the tunnel, reaching a door. The biped didn’t bother with the doorknob, instead opting to kick it open, with a kick that Apple Bloom was certain would have made Apple Jack jealous. The sudden light that streamed in cause the three fillies to recoil in pain, while the biped took it’s one eye off to reveal two tiny eyes. They stood on a small precipice of Earth, with a gradually decreasing face. About twenty five feet below them stood a crowd of at least three hundred ponies and a few gryphons. All looking around in awe. The biped raised its strange bow into the air, and pulled the trigger. A small but noticeable explosion came from it. Everyone in the crowd and the three fillies pinned their ears back in pain. The creature unaffected by the loud sound. The crowd brought their attention to them, as the creature pulled the stallion he had been dragging to the front. Letting go of the stallion’s hindleg, the biped pushed the sobbing unicorn off the side of the hill, the unicorn rolling down the hill and crashing into the ground. It seemed as though everyone in the crowd recognized the stallion. And they weren’t happy. The creature and Apple Bloom took notice of a mass of flying pegasi, a s the crowd moved in on the sobbing stallion. The biped took this as a signal to leave, as he made his way to the side. He disappeared as the mas of pegasi landed, revealing themselves to be guards. Apple Bloom could only look in vain for their savior. Union could only watch as the strange biped that had released him and Swift from the cage, as well as performed a mercy killing on his wife and saved his child. He had slaughtered the entire den by himself and came out with three more fillies and… that bastard. Indentured Debt, a fitting name for a slaver and a pedophile. A sadist who loved torturing slaves. Union smiled as the biped kicked the Debt off the top and down the hill. His smile only grew wider as he saw Debt holding his hooves near his male parts and an amputated horn. A flock of pegasi guardstallions landed, moving to secure Debt from the closing crowd. Union looked back up at the precipice, where he was at angle to be able to see the biped as he made his escape, stopping only momentarily to look back at the crowd. Union saw a face he would never forget. A face that had granted his freedom, and gave his child life.