//------------------------------// // Chapter 8: Infernal Imp (Part 1) // Story: Lyra's Pyro Predicament // by Darrtaa //------------------------------// Disclaimer: I don't own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic or any of the characters, nor do I own Team Fortress 2 or any of it's characters. I do, however, own; Over-Dose, Quick-Fix, Captain Ajax, and Commander Ironsides. Pyro couldn't believe his eyes; the majesty that lay before him nearly brought forth a tear, the sheer warmth and happiness it created hadn't been felt in his heart for many years if not a decade. He took a knee. If he tried to stand, he would only be that much further off the ground when he fainted from joy. Truly, this is the substance that dreams are forged: the biggest bucking haul of candy anypony had ever seen. By rallying together rather than competing for dominance, Pyro, Pinkie, and the CMC had brought back so much candy that Pyro actually had to use one of his keys to open a crate so they would be able to safely store their treasure. A cost Pyro had resisted at first, since those keys were extremely valuable in his world and he still had no idea if he would ever see his beloved team again, but the lure of the sugary sweets were undeniable (not to mention that Pinkie was glaring at him to do it too). As the three blank-flank fillies literally dove into their bounty, Pyro took this chance to really take in his surroundings. The air was unbelievably fresh even through his filters, without that hint of lit propane or burning flesh wafting about. He looked around at the dressed up ponies and wondered how they managed to make such awesome costumes, like Twilight's costume that looked strangely familiar, he assumed that magic played a big role one way or another and left it at that. Pyro thought back to his childhood, or at least what little of it he had had. He remembered dressing up and going door to door, getting candy and maybe some money, seeing his friends, running from the occasional dog that "got loose" and chased him for a quarter mile before giving up. Those were the days. Even after he joined RED Team Halloween continued to be one of his favorite holidays; dressing up and capping point to point, getting holiday items and maybe even a hat, Spy-checking "friends", running from an Über-Heavy that the Scout said "was almost dead" and then sprinting for dear life across the battlefield before a Sentry took the Russian down. Those were the days. He plopped down onto one of the festive chairs outside of Donut Joe's Donut Shop as he reminisced. A couple of colts dressed as mummies came lumbering by and saw Pyro sitting in front of the popular dinner. "Whoa!" exclaimed Winger. "Atomizer, Soda Popper; check THAT out!" "Hey, that's not bad. Ah man I'm stavin', let's grab a bite." said Atomizer. "Maybe there's more decorations like him in dere!" stated Soda Popper as the trio made their way into Joe's shop while taking a little extra time to admire the mistaken statue. More ponies entered the store in a similar fashion, spotting Pyro drifting off into space and then feeling an uncanny hunger pang from the smell of freshly baked donuts that surrounded Donut Joe's. It was the perfect trap. Pyro, who was completely oblivious to the world around him, had continued his flash back and was now at the point in his life where he had first signed up with RED Team… =====TIME WARP===== A lonely breeze swept through the dusty desert collecting sand and loose soil as it brushed past the red stone towers being baked by an unrelenting sun. Vultures cawed in the distance, signaling that another poor soul had lost it's way in the vast wasteland and had not the will to continue. Indeed, this desert was not for the faint of heart…or for the bright of brain. The only town of questionable characters in the sea of sand for miles in any direction was a little place called Teufort. While the town itself wasn't much to speak of; rusty, aging buildings in varying states of disrepair lined the cracked asphalt roads like rotting husks, the "abandoned" mining facility was where all the action was to be had. From the outside, it appeared to be nothing more than two different-colored mills of some sort built VERY close to each other. But on the inside, below the spiraling walkways and dank sewers, lied a massive array of intelligence gathering equipment for Reliable Excavation Demolition and Builders League United respectively. The twin companies, RED and BLU, had spawned from a father company called TF Industries and were constantly fighting each other for dominance. At least that's what Pyro had been told. As he sat at the train station in Dustbowl, he looked through a pamphlet his mysterious employers had given him. It contained various instructions and maps for a wide range of situations he might encounter, such as what to do if a rocket is coming at you, or if a little point of light keeps following your head. The sound of an air-piercing train whistle forced his attention to the iron horse that had rolled into the station. A large rust-red freight train that only had an engine and two cars. Pyro quickly grabbed his things and boarded the train to begin his new career. Pyro stopped once he made his way into the passenger car: he thought he was going to be the first picked up, not the last. He sighed and marched down the hall, slightly deflated. As he walked, Pyro noticed how few people where onboard such a large train, only seven to his count not including him. Although, he wasn't permitted to enter the back car or the engine so there might be more elsewhere. Such trivial thoughts were quickly discarded as he found a massive mini gun pointed at his head. The manual didn't cover this… "Who is tiny baby?" said the large man with a thick russian accent. "Mhrrr marrrm mur Myro." "…vhat? Are you mocking Heavy Weapons Guy? Do you think is funny!?" Heavy's mini gun began to spin and made a loud whirring sound like a bear ready to attack. A black wrench whacked the barrels of the rotating death machine and redirected them towards the floor, the wielder of said wrench was a shorter man wearing a backwards hardhat, goggles, brown overalls, a tool belt, and one yellow glove. He looked up at the now furious Russian with a look of disappointment. "Cool yer jets, hoss, this guy wouldn't be here if he weren't on our team." said the man with a Texas accent as Heavy cradled the ferocious gun in his arms as if though he had just stuck a child with that wrench. "Don't you DARE touch Sasha! I will kill you and kill you and-" "'Kill you'. I know, Heavy. You've said that to damn near everyone here already. Now why don't ya take yer seat and leave this whack job ta' me?" The large man locked eyes with the Engineer and froze in place as the train clacked along the tracks. After a few moments of intense glaring, Heavy finally sighed and took his seat next to his beloved gun. The Texan smiled and returned to his own seat next to a scrawny boy with a headset and a grizzled looking war vet wearing a helmet that shielded everything from his eyes up. As the the Americans continued their conversation about baseball, Pyro scanned the rest of the car for an open seat. Setting across from Heavy was a tall man in a white overcoat talking to an alabaster dove that was perched on one of his red rubber gloves. He appeared to be speaking German, and since Pyro only knew a few phrases in German (the majority of which had to deal with the location of the nearest bathroom/beer hall), he decided to keep looking. He saw another slender man sitting towards the back wearing a slouch hat and tinted glasses who was talking to another person Pyro couldn't see from his side. As he got closer, the other mercenary turned to face the boot steps coming towards his person and revealed his battered face. He gazed lazily at Pyro (who had taken a few steps back) with his un-patched eye and raised a bottle that Pyro could smell from where he was standing AND through his filters. Now Pyro was really excited; he didn't know he was going to have a black pirate on his team! "What're you lookn' at, boyo? Have I got somethn' on me face or have you jus never seen a real man before?" slurred the Demoman with an accent that could only have come from Scotland. Okay, maybe "pirate" wasn't the right term. This individual seemed more like a- "Ack! Who'm I kiddin'? I'm a black Scottish cyclops! *sob*" Yeah, that about sums it up. Demoman placed his head in his hands and began to blubber and sob in between shots of the mysterious liquid. The other man, who had been quiet for the most part as he witnessed the drunken Scot slowly break down into sobs, sighed and patted Demoman on the back. He spoke with an entirely new accent from the others that Pyro found rather irritating. "Oy mate, why don't ya' give 'im a few ticks to sort 'imself, ay?" An Australian? It had been some time since Pyro had tangled with anyone from the outback, and his previous encounter nearly cost him his life at the hands of Saxton Hale during his job interview. Pyro really didn't like the way they talked, so mumbled and choppy, he could hardly understand them half the time. Pyro pivoted and caught sight of the prize he was after; an empty seat. He threw his oversized duffle on the overhead compartment only to have it come crashing back down to the floor and spill it's contents. Everyone else got a good chuckle out of that as Pyro knelt down and scooped up his belongings, what had caused it to fall? He peered at the rack and saw another, more stylish bag already there. He ran another head count to confirm that the rest of the team was all there with their respective luggage crammed in the overhead. He pushed the mysterious bag further down the rack and then took a second attempt at storing his gear, this time, he actually managed to sit on the dusty seat before gravity claimed his bag for it's own once again. Pyro jumped to his feet, grabbed the worn duffle and forcefully jammed it into the overhead. He stood perfectly still as he diligently watched for even the slightest movement. After a few seconds he was satisfied that his bag had been secured and he could finally- *WHUMP* "…HUDDAH MRRPH HUHHAD!" screamed Pyro. What kept knocking his damn bag off the rack!? "Zis is my seat, you in-breed lunatic." came a voice from the ether. Pyro tore open his bag and withdrew his home-made Flamethrower he had constructed from a propane tank, a red gas station pump handle, steel zip ties, and black metal nozzle. Now everybody was on their feet and paying close attention to the infuriated arsonist as they tried to persuade him from turning the claustrophobic train car into a furnace of fiery death. He swung the faux dragon wildly as he placed his mental crosshairs over everyone he could see, trying to weed out the dead prankster who dared defile his equipment. Dell (or "Engineer" as his employers called him) was the first person to break the tension and the first person to get the hissing Flamethrower's pilot light mere inches from his face. "Alright, enough foolin' around," he said calmly as he pushed the weapon out of his face, "Spy, I haven't calibrated this guy's weapons yet. He can still flambé your scrawny ass if ya' keep agitating him." Pyro heard a sound like a series of electronics shorting out coming from behind him. He spun around just in time to witness a thin man wearing a red suit and a matching balaclava, which covered everything save his mouth and eyes, materialize before him. His mouth was pressed into a sneer which also held a lit cigarette that's smoke was somehow cloaked by the same means that hid the thin man. A black butterfly knife twirled lazily betwixt his gloved fingers and came to rest as he inhaled a puff from his custom cigarette. Pyro couldn't believe the weirdos on his team: A cowboy, a baseball player, a war vet, an Australian, a drunken Scottish pirate, a German guy with a bird, a Russian man-bear with a human-sized mini gun, and now, a French wizard. With a rubber-clad firebug to round it all out. Pyro felt sorry for whatever unlucky soul had to go up against this assortment of questionable characters…he would have never guessed it would be them. Pyro soon found that Builders League United had hired a similar group of mercenaries, VERY similar. Right down to the taunts. Pyro learned not to question how exactly that worked lest he meet the same fate as the Civilian. As the years and the wars raged on, he grew hard-hearted; running over his teammates with his Flamethrowers to check for those crafty Spies, burning people alive then dancing on their ashes, and even becoming something of an accomplished axe murderer. He fought other foes that actually forced him to work with BLU on a few occasions, such as the Horseless Headless Horseman. But one Halloween, everything changed. ================================================================== Reports of a flying eyeball that fired smaller eyeballs as rockets had been buzzing across the intelligence network all day long but no sightings, ironically enough, had been made in the past hour or so. That was fine with Pyro, because right now he was more concerned with taking Eyeaduct. As rockets and bombs exploded all around and mingled with cries for the Medic and an apparent need for multiple Dispensers, both teams scrambled for the central point that rested in the middle of a very scary Halloween event. Ghosts roamed aimlessly among the combatants, causing anyone who got too close to shriek and run for cover. Needless to say, it was complete Discord-level chaos, and Pyro was loving every minute of it. In all the confusion, he had been able to run along the sideline as catch people easier than he ever had before. His kill count was closely reaching fifty with only six deaths (thank God for that Respawn Room). As he returned to flash-fry the cocky Scout trying to cap the central (and only) point, a purple smog suddenly shot out of the plate as the Scout turned a deep black and disintegrated before everyone's eyes. Demoman stopped in horror as he yelled at the top his lungs; "MONOCULUS!" As the panicked screams from the Scot rang out, a gigantic brown eye emerged from where the Scout once stood and took flight by some strange means. The back of the monstrosity showed signs of damage, as if though it had been ripped from whatever unholy creature it once belonged to. As it it just so happened, that "unholy creature" turned out to be Tarvish DeGroot, A.K.A. Demoman. As a small boy, Tarvish had once accepted a job to clean a strange old man's library for nickel, that crazy old coot was none other than Merasmus The Magician, keeper of the dreaded tome; "The Bombinomicon". Tarvish, having been tempted by the talking text with secrets of higher explosives, was cursed in the left eye. Only by an enchainment that forced Merasmus to remove his eye was he saved. It was earlier that day during a Halloween Party that Merasmus The Magician reappeared, as the Soldier's roommate of all things. During a dispute over who's turn it was to clean the dishes, Soldier broke Merasmus' staff which made the aged warlock set MONOCULUS on them (and called the police, but that's another court case for another day). Now it was here, but it didn't seem all that angry. It would occasionally fire a slow moving eyeball at whoever was shooting at (which was everyone once the shock wore off and Scout respawned), but even the Heavy was able to sidestep the incoming projectiles. Whatever it's reason for being, it was still attacking and neither team was one for forgiveness as the eerie sky light up once more around the floating creature. The monster took quite the pounding, shrugging off the high-caliber ordinance like it was rain as it continued to unenthusiastically launch miniature versions of itself at anyone who crossed it's massive field of vision. Pyro was suddenly graced by an idea; if these mini-eyeballs acted the same way as rockets, maybe they also shared the same flaw…well, it wasn't like he could just jump up and tag it with his Backburner. He withdrew his trusty Detonator and took aim at MONOCULUS while it was distracted by a soon-scrapped Level 3 Sentry. He launched the searingly bright flare with a piercing whistle as it streaked across the sky at the beast. Pyro pressed the second trigger on the pistol which caused the flare to explode with a thunderous bang right on top of MONOCULUS. The fleshy orb turned to gaze upon the RED dragon who was now having second thoughts about his hastily thought-out plan. As he predicted, MONOCULUS fired a detached fist-sized eye crackling with Critical Energy at Pyro. He lined up his Backburner, moved his hand into position on the handle to the secondary trigger, and squeezed… …perfectly returning fire! The now glowing red eye soared back at it's creator twice as quickly as it had left. It collided with the brown iris and erupted in a shower of sparks and blood. Everyone rejoiced, now that they knew it's weakness, it would be a simple task of having both Pyros play Rocket Tennis until the beast peri- "MUUUURRRRRURRRRRRR!!!" MONOCULUS roared with fury as it's brown iris flashed to deep red and frowned to the best of it's abilities. It began firing eyes at a much faster rate with uncanny accuracy, destroying everything it hit. Even the Scout was helpless against the rapid volley of super-charged MONOCULUS Jr.s, and soon painted the rickety wooden tower near BLU base a very ugly color after his BONK! Atomic Punch wore off. As MONOCUUS turned and fired at Pyro, his final thoughts were curses directed at the Medic for not having an Über-Charge ready… ================================================================== When Pyro awoke back in the confines of RED base, he saw the rest of his team huddled near the locker all talking excitedly about something. How long had her been out? Stupid Respawn Room's waiting period was too damn high for Pyro's liking. Although, it did mean that BLU had to deal with the same problems so that was sort of comforting. Pyro sat up, his shoulders were killing him and he felt like he had the grandmother of all migraines. That MONOCULUS must've really done a number on him (it would be another few matches before Pyro learned that attacking MONOCULUS with a Critical would send it into a frenzy). He slowly (and painfully) got to his feet and moseyed over to where everyone else was gathered. Tarvish couldn't have been happier, not only had he been the one to defeat the dreaded creature with a well-placed grenade from his Loch-n-Load, but he had also received a copy of The Bombinomicon AND a hat that looked exactly like his beloved eye. The rest of the team stood in awe of the spectacle as he dawned the hollow eye and attached the evil text to his flack vest, it's glowing red eyes looking each of them over as they patted Demoman on the back and offered up high-fives. The mood in the room changed from rejoicing to terror almost instantly as all eyes fell upon Pyro. "Murr?" he questioned as his teammates looked him over with mixed looks shock and curiosity. "Well son," said Dell, breaking the silence as he approached scratching his chin, "looks like ya got yourself a new outfit. Just right fer the occasion too." "Murr mumph-hum?" said a befuddled Pyro as he searched for a mirror, which he found in his cubby along on of the walls. He nearly dropped the delicate hand mirror when he saw himself. "Huh mur Gah." =====TIME WARP===== A thunderous chorus of Royal Trumpets brought Pyro back to the present. Nightmare Night was about to officially begin and everypony was gathering in the courtyard. Pyro hefted himself out of the small chair and regrouped with Pinkie and three fillies with wicked tummy aches. As he left, Donut Joe came rushing through the front door in a hurry. "Wait! Don't go! You're the best decoration I never paid for! Aw, phooey; now I gotta find some other way to draw in the crowds..." ================================================================== Lyra and Bon Bon hadn't strayed far from the festive courtyard and had prime spots for whatever the Princesses had in store for their little ponies. They were soon joined by the Mane Six and Pyro as he lowered the queazy CMC to their respective sisters/Rainbow Dash. Soon all of Canterlot had gathered and the dull roar of the crowd rang out across the simmering city. Twilight looked skyward, the moon had somehow been covered by a thick blanket of clouds. 'I wonder what Princess Luna's got in store for us this year!' thought Twilight as she began to bounce up and down at the thought of being in her favorite place in Equestria during one of her favorite holidays. Finally, a dark cloud of twinkling stardust erupted from the door on the balcony above the gathering of masquerading mares and costumes colts that rolled back and forth through the air before slamming onto the ground in front of them with a tremendous impact that shook the cobblestone underneath. The cloud released a burst of mist that engulfed everypony up to their knees as Nightmare Moon herself emerged from within with a terrifying grin that showcased her brilliant fangs. Gasps and cries of shock rocketed all around the crowd, but was soon drowned out by cheers and stomping of hooves as she waved to her lowly subjects. The Mane Six were still a little on edge. They all knew that Princess Luna had the ability to transform at will, and this WAS Nightmare Night. But none of them, not even Pinkie, could shake that nagging feeling that something wasn't right and that somehow the entity standing before them was actually the Queen of Darkness. As the mist began to delude into the streets, a second figure could be made out within the the smoke screen standing high above Nightmare Moon: A gigantic, bipedal pumpkin-wearing monstrosity. Everypony gasped followed by more cheering as they applauded what they thought to be one of the greatest props they had ever seen in all their years in Equestria. "Wow!" Exclaimed Lyra. "Have you ever SEEN such an awesome human skeleton before?! The Princesses really went all out, wouldn't you agree, Pyro?" No response came from the masked man as he stood ridged and tense. "Pyro?" Without warning, Pyro sprang to life and rushed the hollow-headed horror with his Phlogistinator that he seemed to conjure from from thin air. As he got clear of the surrounding Equestrians, the Phlogistinator lit up the night with it's lethal, fiery disks. Pinkie, meanwhile, recognized Silas from a picture she had seen in her grandfather's journal and screamed; "IT'S THE HORSELESS HEADLESS HORSEMAN! EVERYPONY RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!" As she bolted out of the crowd, Twilight (the only other pony to whom the name "Headless Horseless Horseman" caused alarm) was about to call her back so she wouldn't get everypony into a panic when noticed a train of fillies chasing after her down the road. 'Good thinking Pinkie! With the fillies gone, they won't be in any danger. I just hope the same goes for us too…' thought Twilight as she whipped back around to where Pyro was barreling towards the two evil deities. Nightmare shifted back into her smoke for and retreated to a safe distance away from the reach of the para-dimensional torch as the HHH swung the Headtaker and missed Pyro's head by only a few inches. Using the built up momentum, he swung again attempting to slice off Pyro's legs. Pyro acted quickly and managed to ride on the flat side of the massive axe, as the swing reached the height of its arc behind Silas's pumpkin cranium, Pyro wasted no time lighting him up as he dismounted from the Headtaker. Silas roared, "SO YOU THINK YOUR PITIFUL ASSULT CAN ACTUALLY KILL ME? PLEASE, EVEN WITH THOSE OTHER EIGHT REJECTS AIDING YOU, YOU BARELY DEFEATED ME LAST HALLOWEEN! WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU CAN- GAHHH!!!" Pyro hit the chattering Jack-O-Lantern square in the mouth which made him stumble backwards from the sheer heat. "HRRM, THOSE DAMNED DR. GRORDBORT TRINKETS ARE QUITE TROUBLESOME. BUT YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO'S LEARNED A NEW TRICK!" A sickly yellow aura surrounded Pyro as he was thrust into the air by ill-gotten magic the Horseless Headless Horseman had acquired not two days prior. As Pyro soared through the air he saw the cloud of stardust that was once Nightmare Moon reshape back into the Princess of the Night and firmly planted all four hooves into his chest with planet-cracking force. The shockwave traveled through his body, cracking nearly every bone he possessed and rupturing his heart before sending him screeching back towards the cold, unforgiving, stone courtyard. Pyro crashed against the cobblestone with a sickening crunch and caused massive fissures in the masonry. The Horseman, still not satisfied that Pyro was gone for good, trudged over to finish him off when a rumbling from the depths of Canterlot itself made him halt. The cracks around the half-dead masked salamander grew larger and gave way to a gigantic pit. Pyro fell into the crushing darkness without so much as a muffled groan, landing with a limp thud in the crystal chambers below a few seconds later. Now everypony did what they should have done long ago: run. Sadly it was all for nought as Nightmare Moon's frightfully loyal Night Watch (who had already set up blockades) stopped anypony trying to escape and forced them back into the damaged courtyard. Everypony, except for Pinkie Pie, the fillies, and Lyra Heartstrings. Lyra hunkered down behind a dumpster near Donut Joe's as she tried to stifle her sobs and shallow breathing. Her eyes stung from the river of tears that poured down her cheeks and stained her mint-green coat. She coughed and sputtered as she chocked down her pain of having to watch her friend (from what she could only assume) fall to his painful death right before her eyes. She wanted nothing more than to scream and make it all go away, but she couldn't. She couldn't risk capture now. Anger boiled inside her and she had no way to get it out other than forcefully striking the large metal dumpster with her hoof and denting the ugly green container. She pulled off her mask and turned it so it faced her, the Pyromancer's Mask stared blankly at the distraught unicorn with it's hollow sockets. It was all that was left of the human she had rescued from the Everfree Forest after he had selflessly risked life and limb to save her. A loud metallic clang startled Lyra out of her sadness as she frantically looked around for it's source fearing that it was guard. Satisfied that it wasn't a member of the Night Watch, she continued to look for the cause of the noise when she spotted something shimmering near the base of the dumpster; a round, flat shield with small studs surrounding the central boss. She moved it over to her hiding spot with her magic and examined it closely, the tag on the side read: "Splendid Screen." 'Where in Equestria did this come from? This doesn't look like one of Pyro's weapons…' she thought as another tear rolled down her burning cheeks. Then it dawned on her. The crate he had opened to hold all of the candy, Lyra never saw what he did with what was inside! This must have been it. She studied it carefully, examining every detail of the bronze plate. 'If Nightmare Moon and that…thing are down here, then Princess Celestia must still be up in the tower. I have to help her!' With her new course of action set, she slung the shield over her back and replaced her Pyromancer's Mask as she crept her way towards the castle. ========================================================== Nightmare was almost beside herself with evil glee, ALL of Equestria was gathered before her in one trembling mass. She remembered that the pink Element of Harmony had lead the little ones off to safety, but no matter, the Night Watch would apprehend them soon enough. What she was really worried about was Silas. He had somehow grown much more powerful since she last saw him, levitating that human into the air with such force was no simple task. Had he found a new source of magic? She would have to keep a cat-like eye on him as best she could until his master plan was revealed. "MY, WHAT A WONDROUS GATHERING! AND ALL FOR ME! IT'S ABOUT TIME YOU FOALS LEARNED TO APPRECIATE MY BEAUTIFUL NIGHTS! ISN'T THAT RIGHT, MR. MANN?" "MHMM…I SUPPOSE, ALTHOUGH I STILL DON'T SEE WHY YOU HAD TO TALK ME OUT OF KILLING CELESTIA. HER HORN WOULD HAVE- BAH, NEVER MIND." Silas was tuned out, the thought of ruling the place where he once found true happiness thrilled him to no end…but he couldn't shake the feeling that Pyro wasn't dead. No, impossible, no human could survive that fall into the chasm after being hit like that. Still… Never the less, he had to remain focused on the task at hand. Nightmare Moon had told him about what had happened to her last time, something called the "Elements of Harmony" or some nonsense had drained her of her dark powers and reverted her back to her…teen years? The alicorn age table wasn't something Silas had readily available back in his universe, all he knew was that they lived a VERY long time. Unless, of course, their abnormally long lives were cut short. Which in it's self was no easy task, but there was always a way. These "Elements" shouldn't cause too much worry, after all, it appeared to him that they could only drain evil from whomsoever they focused upon, or seal said target away in stone in the case of Discord. Either way, as long as he maintained possession of the Headtaker, it would revive him as many times as he needed to be (although anymore than three reincarnations over a certain period of time and it just got embarrassing). Nightmare ascended into the cold night air as she observed her subjects, their faces perfect examples of fear and anger towards her. She spread her wings to their fullest and proclaimed with her mightiest Royal Canerlot Voice: "WELCOME EVEYPONY, TO THE BEGINNING OF THE ETERNAL NIGHT!" With that, she focused her powers on the plume of clouds above her and cast them into oblivion. Everypony gasped, the moon had been slowly moving closer to Equestria and now dominated the vast majority of the sky, shining almost as brightly as Celestia's sun. Even the HHH took notice at the beautiful orb, his reign over this meek land would be made all the sweeter with the permanent glow of the moon cast down on his subjects. And his lonely throne. ========================================================== 'Oh Celestia oh Celestia oh Celestia…I can't be doing this, I CANNOT be in the middle of breaking into the Royal Palace with Nightmare Moon outside, nope…' Try as she might to disillusion herself, that was what was really happening. Lyra Heartstrings, burglar. Her mother would be SO proud if she could see her daughter now. Although, it was to save Princess Celestia and Equestria as a whole from the terror twins outside. Plus the door was wide-open when she got there, and so far, no guards had stopped her. That was what bothered her the most. The castle seemed empty, no guards or anypony else to speak of. She stayed on her hooves nonetheless, she had read enough novels to know that hero always got ambushed right when they thought they were safe. 'So,' thought Lyra as she crept further down the silent halls, 'if I stay in a constant state of panic, nopony will get me. That shouldn't be too hard.' She made her way way up the spiral stare case to where she could only assume was where the Princess' chambers were located and came to a halt at the end of the hallway. Somepony was down there, breathing heavily too. She angled her head as best she could with the Pyromancer's Mask still clinging to her muzzle and looked down the hall. Sure enough, two large stallions stood watch near a massive door with Celestia's sun Cutie Mark embedded in the stain glass, but something was off about these two. Neither of them looked anything like the Night Watch, and the rest of the Royal Guard had been "dismissed" earlier that evening when their dinner got a little sleeping-powdery. Instead of any sort of armor, they wore battered leather jackets with the letters "H.Y.G" sown onto the back…and oversized Jack-O-Lanterns on their heads that had light illuminating from the eyes and mouth. They stood ridged and motionless save the lowering and raising of their chests and didn't even seem to be aware of each other's existence. Lyra slowly stepped out into the hall and walked bravely towards them, head held high with a strut to match. And they did absolutely nothing about it. Lyra was a little embarrassed that she had just put on a show for a couple of blind sentries. She sighed and continued towards the door with her head a little lower and her trot a bit less flashy. "Stop right there! Who are you?" spoke the thug on the left with a voice that sounded like it was echoing before it left his mouth. Lyra jumped almost as much as her poor heart inside her ribcage as the sudden high-alertness broke the silence that carried on throughout the palace. She paused for a moment. If she gave away her name and got captured, then Nightmare Moon might go after her friends for trying to save Celestia, she had to think of an alias. "Who, me? Why, I'm…Pyra! Defender of Justice!" she said striking a pose as her dark cloak fluttered behind her. Now more then ever was she thankful nopony could see or hear her ridiculous codename…and why "Pyra" of all things? She guessed that she was still lingering on Pyro and left it at that. The twin pumpkin heads glanced at each other, as if to asses what to do with the newcomer, and then bolted at her in a full-tilt charge down the dark hall. Lyra froze up, she wasn't prepared for a head-on attack! She thought she would get another warning or something, what kind of pony just rushes at somepony like that!? Lyra tried to use a teleportation spell (one of the few that she actually knew), but the combined pressure from having just witnessed Pyro's passing and having two large goons rushing at her with the intent to turn her over to their evil Goddess of the Night was a tad straining on the flustered unicorn, and only produced a few whimsy sparks from her horn. She just had to break through them, she just had to make it to the other side of the hall, she just…had to regain control of her runaway hooves. "Whoa whoa whoa WHOOOOOOOOOOOOA!!!" Lyra suddenly found herself running TOWARDS the hooligans as she picked up speed! She felt a tingling sensation on her back as the Splendid Screen crackled to life and emitted bursts of red energy that caused it, the Pyromancer's Mask, and her hooves to glow in the same manner. She slammed headlong into both of them with the Mask and sent them both flying in opposite directions with a loud "CLANG", followed by an "Ooh" from an invisible crowd. Once she got the room to stop spinning and picked herself up, she saw two adolescent colts with severed horns lying unconscious in the remains of their pumpkin helmets. How did she do that? Obviously the Splendid Screen had something to do with it, but she had to have activated it somehow. She decided that she would uncover it's secrets later, she had a Princess to rescue. As the towering doors creaked open, Lyra found herself starring at a gigantic black caldron with a golden bow wrapped around it. It was easily three time bigger than Lyra, and commanded so much space that Celestia's bed had been carelessly tossed into the corner to make more room. "H-Hello…Princess? Where are you?" whispered Lyra, trying not to draw any attention to herself other than that of the Princess. She heard a muffled whimper, and her ears swiveled towards where it was coming from moments before her head did. It was coming from the caldron. "Well, at least the locating her part was easy enough…now how do I get this thing open…?" The answer didn't reveal itself for quite some time as she tried to force the lid with magic, pry it off with the Splendid Screen, ram it with the Splendid Screen, she even resorted to bucking the cast-iron sides with her own two hooves before collapsing from exhaustion. As she laid up against the pot she could still hear Celestia trying to say something, but it was all muffled and barley audible. "Oh…I'm sorry Princess, I did my best." said Lyra as her last bit of hope began to drain away from her. She heard tapping up near the top of the caldron, not as if though Celestia was trying to escape, but trying alert Lyra to something. "I know, but I already tried getting the lid off. It won't- No, no it can't be that easy." Lyra's gaze went not to the black lid, but to the shimmering gold bow that decorated the gargantuan containment unit. She stood once again and warped herself up to the top with two flashes of green light. The bow was pretty simplistic, anypony could have done it with or without magic, and yet it was keeping the Goddess of the Sun at bay. Lyra took a deep breath and grabbed the ribbon with her teeth and pulled as hard as she could, which was much more force than she needed as she tumbled off the black cauldron with the golden ribbon floating lazily behind her. The lid wobbled around as if though a vast amount of popcorn was being made within the sinister jar before it rocketed towards the ceiling, spewing confetti and disembodied cheers before launching the Princess herself like a bottle rocket. "Uh-oh! Princess! Don't worry I'll catch-" *WHAM* Celestia had no reason to doubt Lyra, she caught her alright, but Lyra severely underestimated exactly how much an elegant alicorn actually weighed (no matter how ethereal that made themselves appear to be) and found herself in need of assistance to assist the Princess. "Thank Dad I'm free," said Celestia as she pulled off a Seal Mask and kicked off two cardboard Shoestring Budgets from her back legs, "now I must save Twilight and the others before- OH! I didn't see you there my dear." The Princess stood and found a mint-green unicorn wearing a ghastly skull for a mask and a dark cowl. Celestia levitated her up to eye level to find she was unconscious from being crushed by her…adequate weight. "Ohhh…P-Princess? Oh good, I was afraid I was going to have to wait for the guards to wake up before I could get you out of there." "WHAT!? My guards are ASLEEP!?" shouted Celestia with a mix of anger and shock. "I-It's not their fault! They were drugged by the Night Watch! I-I-I over heard a couple of them talking about it on my way over h-here." stammered Lyra as she felt Celestia's magic squeeze her like a stress ball, and Celestia was dealing with a lot of stress. "Um, P-Princess…?" "Hmm? My apologizes, Lyra. I sometimes lose control when my sister tries to overthrow my reign for the second time with the aid of some foul warlock." said Celestia as she grimaced and lowered Lyra back to her hooves. "That's understandable, I would be furious too if my…wait, how do you know my name?" Lyra's eyes lit up. Had she somehow gained Celestia's attention before? Celestia's face relaxed as she giggled. "Of course I do, I know everypony's name, it comes with being an all-knowing alicorn. That...and don't you remember me talking to you back in Ponyville?" She winked at Lyra, who went bright red. How could she have been so silly? Losing a friend, no matter how long you knew them, can have that effect on ponies. As she thanked her lucky stars that she was still wearing her Pyromancer's Mask to hide her embarrassment, she was suddenly hit by a revelation: If Celestia magically knew everypony's name, then maybe… "Princess, if you don't mind my asking, do you also know the whereabouts of everypony?" Celestia looked surprised. She rolled her eyes as she thought about the question for a moment before replying. "Not all at once, but I can easily find ponies who are still among the living and are not attempting to block my magic. Ms. Heartstrings, what exactly does this have to do with anything?" she asked raising an elegant eyebrow. "Can…can you look for Pyro?" Lyra's head drooped as did her ears, "He tried to fight Nightmare Moon and the Horseless Headless Horseman all by himself, he-" Lyra went silent as Celestia wrapped one of her wings around her, Lyra almost felt like she was drifting away into heaven with such soft feathers. "I'll see what I can do." said Celestia in her most nurturing voice. She focused her magic starting with the solar system as a whole, becoming aware of every planet and whatever may reside on it's surface. The spell focused tighter and soon became no larger than the planet itself. She could sense all of her little ponies, some were fast asleep while others had been up for hours working away at whatever skill their Cutie Marks had symbolized. She narrowed the scope even further to that of Equestria and shifted her attention to Canterlot…she grimaced at what she saw. All of her ponies where either being held captive or chased by the wicked Night Watch as they fled to safety, little did they know there was none. They had been corralled into the courtyard on the other side of the castle while Nightmare and the Horseman schemed about what they were to do with all of these frightened ponies. She saw a fresh crater nearby that traveled deep into the mountain, but no Pyro. "Anything?" asked Lyra after a few moments of silence. Celestia turned towards her, but before she could utter any condolences, the sorrow on her face told Lyra all she needed to know; her friend was gone. Like a candle standing up to a whirlwind, he had been snuffed out well before his time by a destructive and unrelenting force. Lyra's heart sank again, in her mind, she had already accepted that he was gone but something else told her that he was still out there. "I'm sorry Lyra. He will be commemorated once this nightmare is over. Now come, we must act swiftly if we want to prevent any further tragedies." said the Solar Goddess triumphantly as she and the masked "Pyra" galloped out of the gilded room and down the dark halls of Canterlot Castle. ========================================================== Somewhere deep below Canterlot rested an all but forgotten part of Equestrian history; the Crystal Caves. Once used to imprison those who sought it's riches, the caves have a natural ability to distort magic that might have saved it's captives and reduced even a unicorn of Star Swirl the Bearded's skill to that of new born foal learning how to control their magic for the first time. Needless to say, anypony attempting to locate those trapped within it's glimmering catacombs via magic was wasting their time; the reflective walls bounced the spell all around until it flickered and died like using sonar in the presence of DJ PON-3. Utterly pointless. It was within these crystalline caverns that Pyro had fallen into his current state of agony. Battered and broken, his body didn't have a single bone left unbroken from Nightmare Moon's devastating attack, his trademark suit was damp in areas where Nightmare's hooves had connected with his torso and caused major internal bleeding along with a collapsed ribcage. His spine was in the most critical condition: If the hundred-ought foot fall hadn't been enough, Pyro also had the misfortune to land squarely on his propane tank, shattering multiple vertebra and leaving the firebug completely paralyzed from the neck down. Above the neck wasn't much better; whiplash from the fall, and even though his Last Breath had taken the Manticore's share of the Impact, it was still wasn't enough to prevent his own skull from cracking. Pyro had nearly choked a couple of times from the fluid that threatened to fill his punctured lungs but had managed to keep himself conscious and breathing through nothing more than will power. Pyro had no problem with dying. He had done it many times before (some of his deaths were even mildly amusing), but this was different. He wasn't in his own world, and he didn't know if death here meant death for life. Otherwise, he would have offed himself in order to reappear seconds later in the Spawn Room, completely healthy and ready for action. But, dying now would mean leaving all of the little ponies in their time of need. The choice was no longer Pyro's, he soon felt a calming coldness work it's way throughout his body as his vision became murky and dark… …and then suddenly bright. Pyro forced his now strangely improving eyesight on the blaring glow that brought him back from the brink. The light, although it had to travel all the way through the twists and turns of the Crystal Caves, still shown brightly in the rushing depths. Pyro, even though he lay broken and wounded in a pristine prison still recognized the luminous glow: the Moon. "…Mhmm…? Murr…" Pyro knew he couldn't resist any longer. He needed the Infernal Imp. And as the moon's beams filled his eyes, he hoped the ponies wouldn't be afraid. He relaxed, allowing the change to sweep over his body like lava over a cracked island. His Last Breath and Waxy Wayfinder fell away, revealing the classical black gas mask…but now with two little red ears poking out of the sides. The smoke glass goggles cracked in the center. The crystalline cracks made a beautiful, spiderweb-like pattern over the entirety of the eye shields as small chips flew from the lenses. Two golden lenses appeared beneath the ruined goggles and replaced them as Pyro's primary means of sight. "MrrrrrrRRRRRRUUUUMMM!!!"