Well, that was an experience. I thought as I exited the portal back into the Everfree Forest. I hope I wasn’t too hard on the kid. Then again, better he get the shit kicked out of him by someone that doesn’t want to kill him first.
It was at that moment I noticed a bright flash of light and suddenly everything was covered in snow.
Huh? What the hell is… oh, we’re here already, huh? I guess it’ll be coming soon.
“You were right when you said Fluttershy would be the one to find the way to reform Discord,” Twilight admitted. “By treating Discord as a friend, she got him to realize that friendship was actually important to him. And something that, once he had, he didn't want to lose.”
“Go on. Say it…” Fluttershy egged the daconequus, a sincere smile on her face.
Discord groaned. “Alright… Friendshipismagic.”
“See? He can be a real sweetheart once you get to know him,” the pegasus insisted, everypony else giving her somewhat disbelieving looks.
“Bravo, dear Fluttershy. Another grand step taken forward, and another milestone you’ve hit.”
Everypony turned to see a recognizable armored figure.
“Gilgamesh!” Celestia shouted, unable to keep the anger completely out of her voice.
“What are you doing here, punk!?” Rainbow shouted, ready to charge.
“Girls, calm down!” Twilight chided.
“Why, I was simply in the area and decided to investigate when everything got covered in snow. I must say, I’m impressed at what you’ve managed to accomplish, dear Fluttershy,” he replied before giving the pegasus a scratch behind the ears, causing her to moan contently.
“Ooh! Ooh! Do me! Do me!” Pinkie demanded as she bounced over. The warrior chuckled as he stopped scratching Fluttershy before giving the pink mare the same treatment, causing her hind leg to repeatedly kick out like a dog.
“I also came to finally meet you face to face, lord of Chaos,” he continued as he stopped scratching Pinkie’s ears, much to her disappointment, and approached him. “I couldn’t resist meeting perhaps the only other creature capable of making Celestia sweat bullets.”
“Hm hm. Well, I do have quite the reputation, don’t I?” Discord replied with pride. “I’m afraid I don’t know you, though. Oh I’ve heard a thing here or two about an ‘armored warrior’ or a ‘barbarian’ every so often, but the fact is you didn’t seem to appear until after I was put away, and I can only gather so much information when I was in stone.”
“Well, then I’m more than happy to present myself to you. Those who have lived as long as us really should get to know one another.”
“Oh? Please, enlighten me.”
“Well, I’m not one to reveal all at once, but I think I should at least mention that I consider myself an embodiment of ‘Freedom’, doing as one pleases. A bit different from your own ‘Chaos’ in that for me true freedom is tied directly into ‘Choice.’ One should be able to make their own decisions, and I would personally rather have my own life crumble around me due to my own choices than it be elevated to greatness due to someone else making all my decisions for me.”
“Oh? That’s quite an interesting philosophy,” Discord replied, seeming genuinely interested. The mares and Spike look quite surprised as well, many trying to wrap their heads around such a belief. “I wonder what was responsible for making you follow such an extreme belief?”
Surprising all the ponies (and one drake) the warrior actually flinched, and looked away for a moment. “Dun wanna talk ‘bout it…” he muttered.
None were more stunned by that response than Celestia.
He was always so boisterous, so confident. Even when we sealed him away he accepted it with a smile. But now… what happened in the past that could have such an affect on him?
“Anyway, back to choice!” he began again, reverting back to his old personality. “I don’t believe in just my own choices, I believe others should make theirs as well. I also believe in making informed choices, after all if you know the consequences of a choice and decide to make it anyway, then you can truly say it is your decision. Which leads me to you, my dear Lord of Chaos. You’ve chosen to give up making all of Equus your chaotic playtoy in exchange for friendship. I personally commend you on this decision. However, I understand emotions are fickle things, so I would like to give you some information so you may make your own informed decision.”
“Really? And just what do you need to tell-?”
Discord was cut off as the warrior grabbed his goatee and pulled Discord towards him, faces touching. Gilgamesh stared into Discord’s eyes, his own glowing red.
“Make the the yellow one cry, and I make you cry. Got it?” he asked darkly.
Too stunned to formulate a proper response, Discord simply nodded.
“Then we’re good!” he said cheerfully, letting the draconequus go and stopping his glowing eyes. “Chocolate milk?” he offered, pulling out a glass from somewhere.
“Wha? How did-?” Twilight began, only for the warrior to cut her off, dashing towards Pinkie and getting right into her face, but only after placing the glass on Discord’s head.
“I’ve been watching you, pink one. Soon I will know of all your ways and make them my own.”
Pinkie smirked defiantly in response. “Hah! Fat chance!”
The two pressed their faces against each other and growled before suddenly backing off and laughing.
Well, this is certainly interesting. Celestia thought.
“Oh, and Tia?” he began, turning his attention to the alicorn. “Glad to see you’re taking some of my advice. But will you be taking... all of it?”
She glared at him before responding. “...Yes.”
“Good! Oh, and by the way, nice job getting all the cake weight off!” he complimented with two thumbs up. He then paused and leaned, taking a quick peek at her flank. “Well, almost all of it.”
The other ponies gasped and Celestia growled.
“Toodles!”
And with that he cut open a rift in the air and jumped through it. Celestia merely groaned.
“Tia, why didn’t you introduce us earlier? He’s a riot!” Discord exclaimed with glee as he ate the chocolate milk, glass and all.
Celestia could only groan more before taking a deep breath. “Discord, if you could follow me for a moment. Luna and I have something to discuss with you.
“So, they actually tried to kill you, Lulu?” Discord asked, perusing the letter and the notes.
“Yes. Her magic may not have been particularly offensive, but she used it to great affect. I was nearly done in.”
“That’s disturbing.”
“So you’ll do something about it then?” Celestia asked.
“You kidding me? I would’ve done something about this even if you didn’t try to reform me. I might not be paragon of virtue and order, but I'm not into the whole killing thing. No point in getting rid of playmates, and I never did find a way to bring back the dead.”
The Princesses both winced at that answer but were also thankful they never had to worry about such a thing.
“So is it possible then? The letter specifically said to ask for you.”
“It’ll take a bit of time, but I can do it. However, there are two things I should mention. First is that it is possible to get around it if somepony, or should I say someone, invites something here.”
Celestia sighed. “And second?”
“I might be able to make a barrier to keep intruders out, but I won’t be able to kick out anything that’s already here.”
The Princesses exchanged worried glances.
“Is there something here?” Luna asked.
“I’m not sure, but I don’t want you to blame me if something that shouldn’t be here shows up. Anyway, I should get to work,” he said before shutting the folder closed. “Keep an eye out girls, this process won’t be done in just a few minutes. Oh, and I’ll be expecting some compensation for this,” he finished with an annoying smile.
Celestia glared. “Finish the job first, then we’ll talk.”
“Always can count on you, Tia. Arrivederci!” and with a snap he disappeared in a flash of light.
“What do you think, Sister? Should we take steps?”
Celestia paused to think before answering. “I think we may have little choice. I want at least one squad of Solar or Lunar Guards in every town and city.”
“Are you sure, Sister? Won’t it cause a panic?”
“I know it might, but we have little choice. We must have somepony there to protect, or at least evacuate, the citizens if one of theses creatures does show up, at least long enough for us or Gilgamesh to show up. Assuming he will keep his-”
“He will, Celestia. I’m sure of it,” Luna interrupted, her voice firm.
Celestia sighed. “We’ll see. For now, let’s try to relax,” she said as she levitated a cup of tea and newspaper to her. After a few moments of reading she spat it out in surprise.
“Tia! What’s wrong!?”
“Oh no.”
Though it wasn’t the headline, one of the stories mentioned an ancient weapons exhibit that had recently opened in Manehattan, and one of the weapons was a mace that she knew all too well.
“There’s no way he’ll miss this,” she muttered.
“Tia, there is nothing to worry about. He swore he would not harm our subjects. Although… he didn’t mention anything about property,” she muttered weakly.
Celestia just stared for a minute before an idea came to her. “Alright Luna, let’s see once and for all.”
Four Days Later
Goddammit, Tia!
It was in the afternoon in Manehattan, I had come here to retrieve my mace, the “Mole Whacker” as I called it, from the Manehattan Museum. I was currently sitting on the pony version of the Chrysler Building, whatever it was called, as it seemed that pegasi didn’t tend to travel this high. I arrived last night only to find that the place was heavily guarded. Now that usually wouldn’t have been a problem, except now I did have that promise hanging over my head. Sure I could break it easily but even if Celestia couldn’t stop me I didn’t really need her trying to attack me all the time. Not to mention I really, really, really didn’t want to disappoint Luna. I figured I’d wait for sunrise, not wanting to attract attention but it would probably be better than having a larger amount of ponies attacking me and being able to dodge them, but as it turned out the place was guarded just as heavily during the day.
Ugh. I thought they would be easing up on me. Why are they doing this? I thought on the matter for a moment before coming to the most likely conclusion. It’s a test. They want to see what I’ll do now that my promise and my goals conflict. Damn it to Hell, what do I do?
I considered my options.
One: Rush in, kick anyone in my way out of the way, take the mace and leave. Not happening.
Two: Go back to Canterlot and ask the Princesses to let me have it. Might work, and it might even allow me access to the katana in Cloudsdale, but if they refuse it just leaves me with wasted time. Not to mention even if they do agree there’s the chance that nobles might be able to flex their muscles enough to hold things up.
Three: Find some way to get inside without harming anypony. I can get my weapon now and if they complain I can say “I didn’t hurt anypony.” Seems like the best option right now, though I do still have to figure out about Cloudsdale.
So now that that’s decided I need to choose whether or not to do this during the day or at night. On the one hand, night would attract less attention. On the other hand, if everypony actually sees me not hurting anyone, it might help my public image.
I thought about it for a second before cutting a hole through the air and stepping inside.
“Anything, Rainbow Dash?” Twilight asked.
“Not yet. I bet he’s here somewhere though,” she replied landing.
“I really don’t feel good about doing this,” Fluttershy stated as she peeked out around the corner, keeping her eye out for the armored warrior. “I mean, he hasn’t really done anything wrong.”
“Oh sure, he hasn’t done anything to deserve this sort of treatment,” Rarity replied sarcastically, adjusting the Element of Generosity around her neck.
“Actually, Rarity, he did beat up Celestia, broke into Twilight’s home, broke into the Canterlot palace, attacked the Solar and Lunar Guards, threatened Appleloosa and the Buffalo tribes, and called Celestia fat several times,” Pinkie retorted.
“Uh, Pinkie, I’m pretty sure Rarity was being sarcastic,” Spike explained.
“What’s that? Some kind of pastry?”
“Ah think you’re fightin’ a losin’ battle there, sugarcube,” Applejack said, rolling her eyes.
Twilight reflected back upon her mentor’s instructions.
“We’ll be stationing members of the Guard both day and night to watch the museum. When he comes, as he most likely will, I want you to observe his reactions. You don’t have to stop him if you don’t think it necessary, but if you do I want you to use the Elements on him. I trust that you’ll be able to make that choice on your own.”
Twilight sighed.
Princess Celestia, is this another test? I know you’ve talked with him, and I told you how he trained me. Fluttershy trusts him, Pinkie Pie trusts him, Spike trusts him, Zecora trusts him, Vinyl and Octavia trust him… and I trust him. Do you still not?
Suddenly a tear in reality opened up right in front of the steps and Gilgamesh stepped out through it. Everypony stopped to stare, first in curiosity, then fear. Some ran away, others hid behind the nearest object, and some just stood still in terror.
“There he is! Let’s get-!”
“Hold on, Rainbow!” Twilight chided, grabbing the hot-blooded mare with her magic. “We’re here to observe him! Let’s see what he does.”
The Solar Guard formed in formation in front of him.
“HALT! GO NO FURTHER!” one of them shouted.
The warrior cleared his throat. “Excuse me, but I’m afraid something of mine is in that museum. If I could retrieve I can be on my way. Please allow me entrance inside.”
“YOU WILL NOT PASS! LEAVE NOW!”
The warrior groaned before making a short bow. “I’m afraid I cannot leave without retrieving my weapon. I ask again, stand aside, please.”
The simple act was enough to make Rarity, Rainbow and Applejack’s jaws drop. Even Twilight was shocked, but she still kept herself at attention, ready to move if needed.
“NO! GO NOW, OR WE WILL ARREST YOU!”
Gilgamesh stood up straight and growled before closing his eyes. “No choice then. I hope you don’t get hurt when you fall. Dancehall Daze!”
Power began to radiate from his body, invisible waves of something, while simultaneously “Hush Now, Quiet Now” began to play. The Guard members, and anypony near enough, immediately fell over, their breathing indicating they had fallen asleep. The girls and Spike also heard it but were unaffected, being out of his range.
“He put them to sleep. He stopped them without hurting a single one,” Twilight muttered as they watched him enter the museum.
“What are we waiting for!? Let’s go after him!” Rainbow shouted.
“Wait!” Twilight called, but she was unable to stop her before she got inside. The rest of the group charged in to find Rainbow in front of Gilgamesh, cutting off his path.
“You wanna go, huh? I ain’t scared of you, big guy!” she threatened, jabbing her forehooves in the air and weaving back and forth.
“Rainbow, stop!” Twilight yelled, catching the warrior’s attention as well. She saw him scan the mares, more specifically their accessories.
“Are you here to stop me?” he asked, his tone serious.
Twilight paused before giving her response. “If we were?”
“Then I’d have to render you unconscious.”
“The same way you did to those guards outside?”
“Ideally.”
Twilight sighed. “Then no, we aren’t.”
“WHAT!?” Rainbow, Rarity, and Applejack asked in disbelief.
“Girls, he’s not here to hurt anyone. He asked the Guards to stand aside and when they didn’t he stopped them without even striking them. He’s not here to cause trouble,” she explained.
“Thank you for believing me,” he said, the warm smile evident even underneath his faceguard. “Just give me moment while I find it.” He then turned and walked further into the museum.
“Are you sure about this Twi?” Applejack asked.
“Yes. I think so,” she replied with a smile.
“Well if you won’t get rid of that muscle-head, then I will!”
“Huh?”
The seven friends were caught off guard and screamed as they felt something long and slimy wrap around all of them and pull them outside.
“Finally. Just one more to go,” I thought aloud as the mace disappeared in a flash. “Guess I should thank Twi-”
“AAAAAAAAAAH!”
The scream came from back where I came. Without thinking I dashed through the museum and barrelled outside to see-
Oh son of a bitch, not him!
-Ultros, laughing annoyingly as the six mares and one dragon wriggled trying to escape his grasp.
“Well, well, look what we’ve got here! If it isn’t the one muscle-head that I’ve been trying to beat the snot out of!” he said in anger. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it, you walking steroid?”
“Goddamnit, why won’t you leave me alone!?” I shouted in exasperation.
“Oh, don’t worry! After I put you under, you won’t have to see me again! But more importantly, I won’t have to see you again! And I’ve got some lovely cuties to boot!”
“Bastard!”
“Let go, ya varmint!” Applejack shouted as she wriggled in vain.
“Oh my! Can’t we talk this out?” Fluttershy meekly asked.
“Gah! Let me go! This is not good for my cool cred!” Rainbow shouted as she struggled, the tentacle having to have wrapped around both her forelegs and her wings.
“Wheeeeee! This is fun!” Pinkie exclaimed, raising her forelegs into the air as she was moved back and forth due to the octopus’ wriggling.
“Of course, some of them are prettier than others,” he said, holding Rarity closer to him.
“Unhoof me, you brute! Your slime is ruining my coat!” she exclaimed.
“Now now, don’t be that way, dearie!”
“GET AWAY FROM HER!” Spike shouted, grabbing his attention.
“Oh right, I forgot about you. Well, at least you’re not a muscle head,” he said as poked Spike in the stomach with his one free tentacle. “A bit pudgy, actually.”
“HOW’S THIS FOR PUDGY!?” he shouted before inhaling and then releasing a rather impressively large green flame onto his tentacle
“GAH! YOU LITTLE-!”
Ultros responded by hurling the small dragon into the air.
“SPIKE!” Twilight screamed.
“SPIKEY-WIKEY!” Rarity shouted.
I launched myself into the air and grabbed him before landing, turning to face the annoyance.
“Not bad kid. You sure got guts, but let me handle this.”
“NO! I NEED TO SAVE THEM!” he insisted. I swear I could literally see the fire in his eyes.
“I understand, Spike, but this isn’t just a fight. This is a hostage situation,” I explained as I set him down. “Though you are right about one thing, I could use some help.” I looked towards the guards, seeing them still fast asleep.
Damn it, it’ll be at least ten more minutes before they get up. If only I had a way to cure-
It was then my own teachings to Twilight hit me. I’d always assumed that I could only perform the spells that Gilgamesh could use in the games. But maybe…
Well, it’s worth a try.
I closed my eyes and focused on all the sleeping ponies. I focused until it felt like my head was going to split but I was finally able to cast the spell.
“Esuna!”
A drizzle of green sparkles appeared above all of the sleeping ponies. They stirred and then soon awoke, checking their surroundings.
So I can cast other spells. Although just casting a simple spell like Esuna gave me one hell of migraine. Guess I won’t be casting Ultima any time soon.
“All ponies not members of the Equestrian military please leave, now!” I shouted. The civies looked to me both with fear and curiosity. Soon they noticed the giant chariot size octopus and ran away screaming.
How the hell did he sneak around a whole city anyway?
“The Elements!” one of the guards shouted, noticing their state.
“Royal Guard, front and center!” They all looked at each other in confusion. “NOW!”
They all quickly responded, despite their own hesitations.
“Wh-what’s going on!?” one of them asked, not sure who to point his spear at.
“No time to explain! Earth ponies, fan out and start a blockade! Keep the civies out! Unicorns and pegasi, I need you here!”
They looked between each other in confusion.
“Please listen to him!” Spike shouted. “He’s trying to help!”
After a moment’s hesitation the earth pony guards galloped away in all directions.
“Spike, I want you to go with them.”
“What!? But-!”
“Spike!” I shouted, cutting him off. “Do you trust me?”
He stopped for a moment, clenching his claws into fists as he growled, before nodding.
“You better save them!” he ordered before dashing off.
I turned back to the guards. “Everypony fan out! I need you coordinated, so communicate!” I took a fighting stance with my fists, not wanting to accidentally hit the girls with my spear. “When you see a chance grab them and get them away! Time to earn your right to bear that armor!”
They looked at me in surprise for a moment before steeling their gazes. A unicorn stallion turned to the rest.
“You heard him! Everypony in position!”
The pegasi immediately took to the skies while the unicorns spread out, still plenty of distance away from me and Ultros.
Heh. Looks like I owe Ellura for giving me some practise in commanding others.
“Uweeeheeee! It doesn’t matter how many you’ve got helping you, you’re going down, muscle-head!” Ultros shouted. “This time, I’m gonna pulverize ya!”
“Shut it, you oversized seafood special! I’ve eaten things bigger than you!
I dashed forwards and he responded by holding his hostages in front of him, like I thought he would. I leaped over and used my wind control to force me to the ground right behind him before turning and kicking him up into the air. I jumped after him, grabbing his two free tentacles, before spinning forwards and slamming him into the ground and jumping back to put some distance between us. Unfortunately, he still had a good grip on them.
“Grrr! Try this, bucket head!” he shouted before calling down a Thundaga spell on me. As it made contact I absorbed it into my body, barely able to do so before my head started to hurt.
Thank you, Jason!
“I think you’re the one who needs a jolt!” I shouted before thrusting my fist forwards, unleashing the attack back at him. It struck true and he convulsed in pain. Unfortunately, so did the girls.
“GAH! MY MANE!” Rarity screamed, her perfectly styled do now looking like something from “The Bride of Frankenstein.”
“Watch it, ya idjit!” Applejack shouted.
“S-Sorry!”
“GRAH!” Ultros shouted as he unleashed more Thundaga spells. I quickly and dodged them, rolling and flipping away.
Damn it! Electricity is out, so I’ll have to use fire if I want to hit his weakness. But the only fire spell I know is Penetrating Beam, and I can’t risk the chance of it hitting the girls. I could cast a simple Fire spell, but consider my headache just from using Esuna I’d rather not risk it. Ok then, come on, think anime logic… That’s it!
I quickly cast Haste on myself before turning around. “Outta my way!” I ordered before dashing at full speed down the street, the Guard members barely managing to dive to the side. I sprinted all the way to where the earth pony members were, surprising them and the civilians, before turning around and dashing back at Ultros. Halfway there I slammed one of my feet into the ground and began spinning as I still went forwards. Like I hoped, my foot caught on fire.
“THIS’LL HURT!” I shouted before I hopped up and hit him repeatedly, forcing him back with flaming spin kicks before kicking him upwards. “One more for good measure!” I hit him one last time, sending his charred and smoking body tumbling, and absorbed the fire into myself. More importantly, Rarity and Fluttershy went soaring through the air, causing the unicorn to scream and the pegasus to seize up in fear, her wings snapping shut.
“Grab ‘em!” I ordered. One of the unicorns grabbed Rarity in a levitation spell and pulled her away while a pegasus snatched Fluttershy out of mid-air before landing.
“H-How did you do that!?” Ultros shouted, shaking any errant flames off of himself. “You can’t just make fire show up on your body!”
I grinned. “You’re right, I don’t have any magic to do something like that. However,” I clasped my hands together and rubbed furiously until they both lit on fire. “Friction makes a nice substitute!”
“‘Friction!?’” Twilight shouted in disbelief.
I dashed forwards, absorbing the fire into myself. Ultros responded with a Firaga spell, hitting me dead on. Apparently he didn’t learn his lesson from last time as I absorbed the spell into myself, ignoring the pain in my head.
“Oh no,” he muttered before I socked him with a jumping uppercut.
“Shoryu-” I shouted before landing and hitting him with another uppercut, this one on fire. “-reppa!” The attack sent him tumbling backwards, but he managed to hold onto his prey. I dashed forwards and hit him with another Shoryuken punch, immediately leading into several kicks that set me up for another flaming one. “SHINRYUKEN!” I shouted as I sent him flying upwards with the attack. Amazingly, he still managed to hold on.
“Not… letting… go,” he strained before casting Protect on himself.
“We’ll see about that!” I shouted back before dashing forwards and stopping right in front of where he was going to land. Doing my best Bruce Lee impression, or perhaps I should say Fei Long impression, I struck him with three dashing punches before unleashing a barrage of strikes on his face and uppercutting him back into the air. After taking a moment to crouch down I leaped and hit him with a flying kick, lighting my foot on fire as I did. I landed and saw him release Rainbow, Applejack, and Pinkie. The blue pegasus grabbed Pinkie and flew away as another pegasus guard caught Applejack and did the same.
This should do it.
I crouched down and held my arms in front of me. “TIGER!” I shouted before jumping forwards and nailing him with a knee strike. I landed and shouted “DESTRUCTION!” as I rocketed up and hit him with an jumping uppercut. I landed and unleashed another one, this one flaming, before he finally let go of Twilight, who was carried away in a magic aura.
And since we’re still on Sagat…
I held both arms in front of me, summoning all the fire I had absorbed before using the wind to keep it as a ball. “TIGER!” I shouted before pulling my arms back. "CANNON!" I thrust both my arms forward and struck the ball, causing it to rocket forwards and hit Ultros just before he struck ground, exploding and sending him tumbling backwards. The poor thing just stood there, bobbing back and forth in a daze.
“I’ll admit, you’ve gotten a lot stronger since our last meeting. However,” I dashed forwards and pulled my leg back. “You’re still leagues away from being able to challenge me!” I hit him with a massive spin kick, sending him rocketing into the sky. As he flew I continued the spin, adding in my own wind powers, until I was hovering like a helicopter with my leg outstretched. Using the gravity powers Kat gave me I thrust myself at him and struck him hard.
“THIS JOKE ISN’T FUNNY ANYMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE!” he shouted as he soared over the horizon.
I landed and watched him disappear, unable to keep myself from smiling.
I just pulled off a Guren Senpukyaku, Shoryureppa, Shinryuken, Rekkashingeki, Tiger Destruction, Tiger Cannon, and Demon Armageddon all in one one fight. God I love being me.
I turned to face the others. “So are you girls al-?”
I was suddenly knocked back and sent tumbling by a massive beam of magic hitting me in the face… a violet colored one.
“Twilight!? What the hay are you-GACK!?”
After hearing Applejack cut off I sat up and saw that Twilight’s arua was around her neck. Judging by her struggles, she was being choked. Even worse she was somehow giving this treatment not only to the rest of her friends but also the rest of the Solar Guard present.
“Twilight, what the hell are you doing!?” I shouted as I jumped to my feet.
“‘Twilight’?” she asked before turning to me, a malicious grin stretched across her face only made worse by her irises now being blood red. “Who’s Twilight?”
Oh shit.