//------------------------------// // Deus Ex Chaos // Story: Blooming Talent // by Griffin Productions //------------------------------// Sapphic stood before all of the assembled ponies and changelings as he held Shining's life quite literally in the palm of his glowing cyan hand. The unicorn stallion was struggling just to stay conscious as the pain started to overtake him; he wasn't going to go out like this. He couldn't. But inhis condition, even if he could get free, what then? His ribcage and some of his spine was completely trashed and broken; his lungs had been punctured by his ribs. His somehow still beating heart being held up and squeezed by the grotesque monster that held him at his mercy. Twilight was in tears just looking at her B.B.B.F.F. (Big Brother Best Friend Forever) in such a condition; his blood trickled like thick waterfalls down Sapphic's glowing muscles and raw veins. The sight of the monster alone was enough to cause someone to vomit in an instant and this did not help. "H-h-how...how are you still even moving...you should be paralyzed by pain..." Twilight stuttered out, somehow trying to reason a way in her head that Shining was ok, an that this was a sick an horrible illusion. Sapphic laughed; a motion which caused the near-death unicorn on his arm to grunt a little. "Believe me...I've never felt a pain this intense....even just standing here in the open air with the dirt stuck on my exposed muscles is like words cannot describe!" He looked the purple alicorn dead in her terrified violet eyes with his angered, yet sadistically happy emerald ones; a few veins on his facial musculature twitching noticeably and the sinews moving as he articulated his jaw. "But this pain is nothing compared to my mission!" He bellowed. "My righteous quest of vengeance shant end here!" He took a quick gaze at Shining Armor; the Imperial Prince finally starting to fade away from the sheer pain. Twilight hopped up when she saw an evil smirk slowly spread on Sapphic's illuminated features. "No! Don't!" As if that was a cue, he yelled and crushed the stallion's heart in his tightest grip, causing it to pop like an air balloon, splaying red all over the lace as the body's main source of blood died. Twilight instantly fell back to her haunches; her ears drooping as low as they possibly could whilst her huge eyes nearly became sprinklers. Everypony else gasped in horror, some screaming and crying at the sight of the absolutely unforgivable act of murder. Shining Armor gave several more twitches and choked gasps before finally falling still for the final time. * * * "Princess Cadence! Are you alright?!" The crystal pony attendants of the lovely Cadence quickly flocked to her as she fell to the floor, the glasses she had carrying back to her room shattered around her as she dropped them from her magical grip. The pink alicorn seemed to be staring off into space with a frightened look in her eyes; she said absolutely nothing for several seconds. When she finally did speak, it was only one sentence. "Not...not my Shining Armor..." Several tears flooded her eyes as she fainted onto the marble floor of the castle hall, her servants worriedly chattering and rushing to the Princess of Love's aid. * * * Sapphic tossed the corpse of Shining Armor rather unceremoniously onto the ground; laughing all the while. Twilight started to prod at her big brother's cadaver, looking like a little filly who wasn't sure what she was seeing was real. "Shining...Shining, get up...no..." She mumbled, not able to stop the tremble in her voice. "Oh don't worry, Princess Twilight." The changeling beast said. "You'll see him again very soon." Twilight did nothing but stare at what was once Shining Armor as Sapphic rose his arm to strike Twilight down. He was suddenly interrupted when Rainbow Dash charged in, mashing her head like a ram into his gut like before. Even though she was now wingless, she was still plenty fast, and her toned muscles still packed a wallop. She continued to push him through a few collapsing houses; the debris falling around them like rain. Each contact with any solid object was like a thousand branding irons being pressed against his exposed muscle. After the fifth house was demolished, she pushed him away from her and followed as he came to a halt in the dirt. "First you kill my little sis." she began, picking him up and punching him back into the ground with her forehoof. He grunted heavily as the strike connected, and gave another gasp of pain as he hit the ground. He wasn't there long, as the multicolor-maned pegasus wasn't done. "Then you kill and hurt my friends." Dash propped him upright and gave him some sweet chin music in the form of her back hooves upon his jaw, shattering a few teeth in the process. He began to fall back, but she held the back of his head up; looking him in his evil green eyes. "You rip my wings off!" A gut strike followed, and Sapphic coughed up a rather generous amount of life fluid and bile. "And now you've taken one of my best friends' brother from her!" The pony smashed her own head against his, effectively cracking both their skulls and disorienting them both. She let the wounded beast hit the ground this time as she recovered, and quickly resumed her beat down. Climbing atop him, she began to smash in his stupid, ugly face. "I! Will! Never! For--give! You!" Each word was accented with a hard hoof punch to his now busted up mug; his nose no longer straight and leaking green blood all over. "I'm gonna beat on your skull 'till I hit tonsils!!" She shouted, bringing down her hoof for another strike. Sapphic grasped the hoof just before it struck him, and moved it aside so he could look at her enraged face as she pushed against his hand. She became even more mad when she saw him grin a bit, even through all the pain he surely had to be feeling. He placed a hand to her chest; the mare's fur matted with sweat and grime. "Sorry," He chuckled. "I'm cancelling my orthopedist appointment today." At the exact end of the sentence, Sapphic blasted a hole through Rainbow Dash's chest with a concentrated beam of energy. The wingless pegasus' eyes went blank as she flew off of the changeling biped with the force of the blast; a chunk of her body missing off the right side. She landed several feet away from him as he stood up painfully, resetting his crooked nose with a loud crack. He sensed the power level still present in Dash, but it was rapidly dropping; she would be dead soon enough. Besides, why waste time killing her when he had many more ponies to murder today. With the power boost he had gained from the battle so far, he was no longer feeling any pain even in his exposed state. He felt like a war machine of righteous fury and vengeance come to rain perdition upon those pastel ponies. Fluttershy was the first to see Sapphic reapproach the area that the huge battle had resumed in. Giving a almost inaudible yelp, she pointed him out to Pinkie and Rarity as he flew forward, bursting the air behind him in a loud boom. His first victim was Fluttershy herself; the timid mare never even had a chance to cry out as his elbow came down hard, colliding with the top of her skull, effectively traumatizing her tiny little brain. The next was Rarity; the seamstress tried her best to hold him off with magic, but his power was now too great for her to contain. He ran a high speed chop into the front of her throat, crushing her windpipe, and then rammed his knee straight into the base of her skull; the crunch was audible as he felt the bone collapse beneath his power, as she collapsed upon the bloodstained ground. He turned coyly toward Pinkie Pie and Twilight; the latter of the two looking on in sheer terror, her mane in all sorts of a mess as she looked about ready to breakdown. "No more games, now!" Pinkie screamed out, an anger nopony had ever heard from her mouth present; the seriousness ofher face was so out of character for her it was terrifying to the ponies witnessing it. In a flash, Pinkie Pie began to transform; her already sizeable mane increased in mass, and a single streak of gold, blue and orange emblazoned it like a highlight. The same happened to her poofy tale, and balloons like the ones upon her cutie mark started to appear on her hooves and legs as well. The power was certainly astounding, Sapphic had to admit. Pinkie stood with her Rainbow Power activated, and prepared to fight seriously for the true first time on her life. Just before the tension became too thick to cut however, a sudden snapping noise distracted the two fighters from each other, as a third player entered the scene. "My, my, my, Prince Sapphic," the playful, yet angry sounding voice said. "you really are such a die hard." Pinkie looked up in shock; she hadn't expected him to be here. The creature that had arrived; a mish-mash of all sorts of animals in a slender form, turned to look at the powered up party pony. "Why the look of surprise?" Discord asked, smiling slightly. "Surely you knew this was coming."