//------------------------------// // Episode 52: The Threat Is Neigh! Race To The Hoofball Stadium! (Die Horde Part 4) // Story: The Life of a Wanted Changeling Season 2: Debt to a Doctor (Comment Driven Story) // by Down with Chrysalis //------------------------------// As Flag Burner is making his address, the Inventory begins to flash. You pull out the Doctor's notebook and find a message. DO NOT ATTACK FLAG BURNER. This fight isn't meant for you, my boy. The Nightmare is coming. Only you can stop it. You need to walk away. The book shakes as your hooves quiver in rage. He knows. He knew! He always knew! Calm your- Calm? CALM?! He dragged me out of Appleloosa for... for... WHAT?! He knew what was going on and he didn't- GONG Deal with him later! The threat is nigh, and you already tried stopping it on your own. We need a plan. As the projection of the "Hooded Offender" (who's really Flag Burner impersonating you) reflects off the cloudy sky outside the interrogation room of the FIllydelphian Royal Guard headquarters, Captain Shining Armor says, "Okay, the plan is-" But is interrupted when something starts to shake from inside the Inventory (which Flash Sentry took off you while "arresting" you). Everypony in the room (You, Flash, and Shining) look at the saddlebag in confusion as Flash reaches in and pulls up "The Doctor's Notebook". He starts to inspect it- "Yoink! That's for me!" When you quickly dash over and grab it out of his hooves with your hoof-cuffed hooves. You read it and it says, Bugze, THIS IS IMPORTANT: DO NOT ATTACK FLAG BURNER. This fight isn't meant for you, my boy. You need to walk away. The book shakes as your hooves quiver in rage causing you to shout, "He knows... He knew! He always knew!" "Calm do-" Shining orders, but is interrupted when you shout, "Calm? CALM?! That old coot dragged me out of Appleloosa for... for... WHAT?! He knew what was going on and he didn't-" *GONG* You're ranting is stopped by a mental gonging. Deal with the time walker later for I agree with Cadenza's mistress's suggestion. The threat is nigh, and you already tried stopping it on your own. We need a plan. Selena chimes in. You shake off that mental shock as put away the Doctor's Notebook and say, "You're right, we need a plan." Shining is about to reply when you all notice that the projection of Flag Burner is looks around in (what you guess is) a hardened stare from beneath his faceless hood before he says, BrownDog77 comment "Now that you all have had sufficient time to blink and make sure that this is indeed actually happening and not a side-effect of too much eggnog, I shall now commence with my message to the world!" “Oh no,” you say as you watch the projection. “I have come to free you from the oppression of a False Goddess, to lead you into the light, and away from the darkness of her shadow...” “OK, see? Right there, I don’t talk like that. Do I?” “Well...” Flash and Shining say. “I am not a monster my little ponies, but a savior. A savior with a gift for you all. That gift is freedom; freedom from the oppression of forced Harmony, freedom from the hypocrisy of it all. And so, I hope you all remember this Holiday Season as the first stepping stone towards a new world order...” “This guy is nuts.” you hear Flash mutter. “And that first step, will begin with him…” Flag Burner steps aside and two of his hooded minions drag an older, battered, and bruised-looking stallion to the front so he's the center of the projection. “Tell the people of this city your name” Flag says. “I... I am Iron Shield... Captain of the Fillydelphian Guard." he says weakly. “He’s alive?” you ask in confusion. “That explains why there was no body found in the wreckage...” Shining says. “And why are you here?” Flag continues. “Because... because I have failed this city...” he says with tears (you can't tell if it's from guilt or pain) in his eyes. “And why is that?” asks Flag in his monotone tone. “I... I took bribes... I let things slide... I destroyed and planted evidence... I betrayed the law... Oh please, I know I wasn't very good, but please... think of my family. Please spare me.” He begs in pain. “I am thinking of your family Shield... or more specifically, your unwanted son... the one born to your mistress.” You hear a lot of gasps at that exclamation and Shield puts his head down in shame before Flag continues, “His mother died when he was young... had to go to a cheap back-alley surgeon because you wouldn't even provide a few bits for a decent doctor, but he was a tough boy and he endured. He came to me you know, a scrawny looking colt who had to beg on the streets to make ends meet... he told me he would make his father proud one day.” Shield begins to cry. “Such a sweet young colt... until he was hit by a runaway carriage and died of his injuries. You weren't even at his funeral. Apparently you were preoccupied with a private bribe party for you being held by the biggest racketeers of South side.” “Yeesh.” You says aloud as you see Shield bawling. “I’m Sorry...” Shield mutters. “I know you are,” Flag says as he puts a hoof on his shoulder. “But change requires sacrifice, and you will be the first of many” he continues. Flag suddenly grabs the stallion's head and snaps his neck with one quick motion, killing him. “Holy Buck!” you scream and you hear many others screaming across the city and Shining and Flash look unnerved at what they've just witnessed. “That is but a taste of the evil we will uproot tonight. Shining Armor, I know you are watching... you are a weapon of the Tyrant... yet you are a noble soul. I ask you to join our cause... or join Shield's fate. I also have a bomb in the stadium set to blow. If you have the courage, come to me... We’ll have a nice little talk...You have 30 minutes... Merry Hearth's Warming Eve everypony...” With that the Projection stops and now you are extremely angry, “Someone died in my name... You are dead Flag...” you growl to yourself. Now thoroughly convinced, Shining goes out of the room and says to the nearest Fillydelphian guards. “Get every guard to the Stadium, we have to evacuate it immediately!” “Every guard sir?” EVERYPONY!!!!” Shining yells in anger. “Sir Yes Sir!” the guards salute before running out. Shining then turns to another pegasus guard and orders, “We need a bomb disposal team on standby and at the ready stat!” “Sir!” the guard salutes before flying off. Flash comes up to Shining and asks, “Sir, I thought we didn't know who to trust?” “Whether they’re stained or not is beside the point, we only have 30 minutes!” he exclaims. After that, Shining starts shouting out orders to all the guards in the area, and soon the building is buzzing with frenetic activity. Unfortunately, you suddenly get a familiar feeling that is very unwelcome at the moment. Coughing in embarrassment, you activate the RCV as you yell... "HOLD IT!" you yell as loud as you can. Shining stops to look at you with a disgruntled face. "What is it?", he says with agitation in his voice. You smile and say with most politest voice you can conjure. "I need to pee, like badly! I haven't gone in hours!" "Can't that wait for AFTER we deal with the potential massacre?!" proclaimed Flash with as much annoyance in his voice as his captain. You really are an idiot... "Well excuse me for have to hold it all day! Today hasn't left me with many times to use the toilet" you reply to the duo. "OK! Enough! Just take him the bathroom we can come up with a plan on the way to bathroom!" yelled Shining with a face that said "I ain't have none of this shit today" "HOLD IT!" Every guard in the floor turns towards you and Shining says with an annoyed/disgruntled look on his face and agitation in his voice, "What is it?" You smile and say with politest voice you can conjure, "I need to pee, like badly! I haven't gone in hours!" "Can't that wait for AFTER we deal with the potential massacre?!" Shining proclaims in annoyance as the other guards scowl at you. You really are an idiot... "Well excuse me for have to hold it all day! Today hasn't left me with many times to use the toilet" you reply. "OK! Enough! Lieutenant, just take him the bathroom so we can come up with a plan in peace!" yelled Shining with a face that said 'I ain't have none of this horeseapples today' You nod your head in thanks as Flash leads to a conveniently placed bathroom next to your interrogation room. As you enter and begin to relive yourself, you hear a bunch of muffled yells coming from the other side of the bathroom. You quickly wash your hooves and walk out and see both Flash and Shining directing guards to stations around the area. As this is going on, you can't help but feel that things are doing fine and say, BrownDog77 comment “Alright, glad that things are running smoothly, now you stay here and let me handle thi...” All of a sudden, you are lifted and slammed up against the wall by Shining’s magic as Flash and several other guards put spears in your face. “Just because we're dealing with a crisis, it doesn't mean I'm going to let you free.” Shining growls. “What?” you yell, “Oh come on! You need my help to stop this guy!” “I don’t need your kind of help, this is a matter for the guards to handle, not you.” “I am literally one of the most powerful fighters in the freaking land! And this guy is killing in my name, I think it’s pretty much my business too!” you shout. Flash pokes the spear into your cheek a bit, “I heard you mumbling to yourself, we are not going to allow you to kill this Flag Burner!” *snap* Your eyes glow orange at that, “HE... KILLED... A... GUARD!!!” you shout as your voice throws them back a few steps, “A Stallion with a family! He’s going to kill more, including you! And I will make him pay!” you growl. Shining squints his eyes at you, “That’s not for you to decide Offender! There are laws that must be followed. We will take him alive if possible so that he can face justice... I will bring him down, not you!” “Justice?! I AM JUSTICE!!!” you scream in exasperation, “YOU OWE ME ARMOR!!! I’m the one who kept Cadance alive, unless you've forgotten that too!” He scowls at that, “Cadance has told me that... said that you are just 'one big misunderstood kindly soul'... but even if that is the case, I’m not just going to allow you run off and kill a stallion. Every time you get involved anywhere, mass amounts of destruction occurs.” “If I don’t get involved, a lot more will die! You. Will. DIE! Don’t you understand that!” you yell. “I can take care of myself, besides, you said it yourself, you've never taken a life before... if you do this now, no past kindness nor any so called good deeds will make up for it... you are staying here, whether in chains or not is up to you...” You take an angry breath, “Yeah?” you ask as you take a breath, “Well Buck You Too! FUS RO DAH!" Your shout of power blasts everypony in the area through cubicle walls, glass panes, and even out the occasional window and Shining is knocked out when he slams into the armor room, “Sorry boys, this is for your own goo-”*whack* You are interrupted when Flash recovers first, dashes at you, and to whacks you upside the head with his spear. You slowly turn your glowing eye at him angrily as he probably left a welt. “That should have knocked you out!” he exclaims. “I’m Lady Luck's punching bag,” Flash tries to hit you again, but you grab his spear with a hoof and hold it in place, “I'm used to taking her hits. SHORYUKEN!” You hit Flash with a rising uppercut that makes the pegasus slam against the ceiling before roughly landing on the ground where a cubicle wall falls on and pins him. You get in Flash’s face as you retrieve the Inventory and say, “Now you be a good soldier and watch after your Captain, I have a maniac to stop.” With that you walk over to the window before Flash calls back. “You don’t want to do this!” he yells. “I’m pretty sure I do.” you growl as you continue walking, not even turning around. “Taking another's life will change you, and not for the better! Please don't!” he pleads. You stop before the window as you remember a motto from when you were a drone under your former Queen and say it grimly, “Eye for an eye, fang for a fang, blood for blood, Revenge solves everything...” *shatter* You jump out the window and run towards the stadium through the crowds of panicking ponies. Bugze... your thoughts begin to darken... “I learned from the best.” you say vindictively. I concur that this Stallion deserves death but... “What?!” you angrily say as you jump over a downed HWE tree. I don't know, it's just that you finally walking this path I originally wanted, it just seems... wrong somehow. You growl aloud and say, “Right or wrong doesn't matter anymore, that psycho is going to get his!” I... as you wish, you hear her say in hesitation, I will stand by you no matter what. I just hope Nightshade will understand... she adds in, halting your dark thoughts for a moment. “I... She... GRAGH! Fine! Flag is still going to bleed though!” you tell her. That is fine with me... she says a bit more cheerfully. You can’t believe it’s come to the point where she (of all ponies) is calming you down. She’s come a long way. You smile slightly at that fact before your face hardens as you continue to run towards the stadium, your cloak flying in the wind behind you. As you get closer to the stadium, you spot out of the corner of your eye... The Rutherford's comment An ally with a large amount of crows. "What the..." Imbecile! We've got a wannabe messiah to stop and here you are hesit- What is a murder of crows doing in Fillydelphia? Especially one this size in the snow? I haven't seen any since our arrival... Selena comments. Wait! What did you call them? A murder of crows. That is the correct term for a group of crows. Have you not heard that term before? You're about to respond when you spot a bottle in the middle of the murder. You go into the alley and make your way through the birds to see a bottle that looks like this and you see a label that reads, "MURDER Of CROWS: Command a murder of needling beaks to swarm your enemies.* Now in licorice flavor!" ―Fink Manufacturing advertisement *Disclaimer: Only compatible with plasmid glove. Only works when plasmid glove is on AND crows are within a mile radius. Not responsible for damage caused by bird poop. "Ooooo, licorice!* Focus! Quite frankly, I'm beginning to lose track of how many abilities, powers, spells, and skills you have at this point... Selena comments. "This could be useful for crowd control or distractions..." You're about to drink the bottle when you see... Along the way, you see looters stealing stuff, so you freeze them and save some innocent ponies from being robbed. Psycho Crusher through the door way into a tiny mob of looters and Falcon Punch the biggest one through a storefront window causing the others to flee. You notice one of the games that one of the looters dropped and the title catches your eye; Hatred. "Wait a minute... isn't that the game that was considered so violent that it was banned by Celestia? AWESOME!!! This will be the perfect gift for Nightshade!" With that, you quickly pocket the game and move on.. "Hatred" video game added to Inventory A group of looters smashing up a department store and terrorizing/mugging the ponies inside. "Aw hay no!" you declare as you put the bottle away ("Murder of Crows vigor" added to Inventory), take out the Power Glove, and run towards the department store. "PSYCHO CRUSHER!" you call out as you spin-smash through the doorway and knock the looters everywhere like a bowling ball. A few looters still standing brandish their clubs with intent to charge you when you quickly grab some film reels from The Inventory and throw them like frisbees, knocking one out and forcing the others to scatter. A few of the downed ones charge at you... "Would you kindly FREEZE!" Before you cover the floor in ice causing them to slip and slide towards you, but you step out of the way allowing them to all slam into a janitor's closet. You rush in and jam the door with a "Animals, Nature, and You" book to lock them in. *WHAM* When the biggest looter (a dimwitted-looking earth pony) knocks you into a HWE display that consists of a stack of empty presents. As he charges you again, a "Psychology of Dreams" book shoots out of the fallen stack and hits the stallion in the eye, stunning them as he grabs his eye in pain. "FALCON PUNCH!" Your orange flame-covered hoof shoots out of the downed stack and slams into the stallion, sending him crashing through the store window *klonk* and knocking him out on the pole. Seeing their biggest gun down, the other looters tuck tail and flee. As you watch the civilians leave, you notice one of the games that one of the looters dropped and the title catches your eye; Hatred. "Wait a minute... isn't that the game that was considered so violent that it was banned by Celestia? AWESOME!!! This will be the perfect gift for Nightshade!" Added to Inventory: "Hatred video game" "Murder of Crows vigor bottle" Lost "Animals, Nature, and You" book "Seikrei" anime serial reels "Psychology of Dreams" book After that, you run towards the Hoffball Stadium, but before you can get there, a figure steps out of an alley and in your path... After stopping the looters, you sprint on the stadium. The Doctor steps out of an alley on your way. "I know you got my message." You snarl and ignore him, running on as fast as you can. The Tardis appears ahead of you, and the Doctor appears again. "Do you really have so little faith in those two guards?" "The guards? No. It's YOU!" You stop nose-to-nose with him. "You have five seconds. What is the Nightmare?" "Walk away, Bugze." You stop yourself from Falcon Punching him and run on. "Whoa there! I know you got my message." the Doctor says. You snarl and ignore him, running on as fast as you can. *wham* when you run right into the TARDIS. As you rub your head in pain, Doctor steps out of the TARDIS and sternly says, "Oi! Didn't you get my message!" "Go save a planet noling has heard of, I got business in that stadium!" you bitterly retort. "Do you really have so little faith in the guards?!" "The guards? I meant YOU! Know would you kindly GET THE BUCK OUT OF MY WAY!" With that, you use the Telekinesis plasmid to grab the Time Lord and throw him back into the TARDIS and cause it to phase away when his body slams into the controls, but you just keep running. When you reach the stadium you see... BrownDog77 comment A small army of Royal Guards surrounding it. “Huh, Armor wasn't kidding when he said everyling.” you comment “There he is!” someone shouts. “Huh?” you say in confusion. “There’s that murderer!” “No it’s a false one, kill him and get the bounty!” You then see that almost everypony in the area is looking at you. You even see a bunch of newsponies with cameras. “Oh Buck Me! Flag Burner, you are so going to pay for this...” you mutter. "Time to pay for your crimes Offender!" "Put it on my tab!", you yell as you pull out your "Armored Shell tonic" ("Physical and Magical Damage is reduced by 50%") and down it. It actually tastes pretty good, like citrus soda, but then you start feeling your bones and skin hardening and your skin starts to briefly glow white. You do everything you can to keep on your feet as you sway and grit your teeth to suppress cries of pain. Most of the ponies look at you stunned, but one Pegasus Royal Guard charges at you with intent to skewer you with his spear- *crack* But fortunately, his spear was coming at you at an angle and your tonic is taking effect, causing the spear to break. As you catch your breath, the stunned Pegasus says, "W-What sorcery is this?!" “Just took some points in Damage reduction.” you say cryptically before you smash the empty tonic bottle over his head, stunning him, before hitting the Pegasus with a jumping headbutt that knocks him out cold (it still hurts you, but not as much as it normally would). "So..." you say as you shake your head, "Who's next?" The guards harden their expressions and prepare to charge you. Buck! I NEED to get inside before it’s too late... *snap* Guess I better clean some clocks.... Your eyes glow orange and Nightmare Cloak particles fly off your body as you smile evilly and yell in the Royal Canterlot Voice, "WELL BRING IT ON YOU COWARDS! WHO'S GONNA COME UP AND GET THEIR BUTTS KICKED FIRST! CAUSE I HAVE A IDIOT WHO'S BUTT NEEDS KICKING! WE'RE ON EASTERN PAIN TIME AND IT'S DAN O'CLOCK- Wait... Dang it wrong intro! Well, it is Hearth's Warming Eve so I'm gonna Deck the halls with YOUR STUPID BODIES!!!" What do you do?