//------------------------------// // Chapter Twenty Two: Symbol Of An Epidemic (Now With A Picture At The End!) // Story: A Displaced Dragon // by Prince_Zodiac //------------------------------// Chapter Twenty Two: Symbol Of An Epidemic {Third POV} It was just another normal day. No excitement, no danger, just another, calm, day. Epidemic stood on the top of the tallest tower in Twilight’s castle. He was in his human form, he had really come to enjoy it, and was overlooking the town. Twilight and Alduin had finally found the time to go on a lunch date, so they took advantage of it, leaving Epidemic with the job of figuring out what to do with both the Twins and himself. ‘Why is there nothing to do today?' ‘Hey don’t worry Epidemic. At least there isn’t any world ending danger today!’ Suddenly, something hit Epidemic in the back of the head, hard. He was knocked off the tower he was standing on and straight into a portal that opened right in front of him. ‘You had to say it, didn’t you?’ ‘He he, whoops.’ As he entered the portal time in the world stopped and a small purple diamond followed Epidemic into the portal. "Why does all this crazy shit happen to me?" Symbol slid down a slope of purple rocks, he jumped onto a long crystal rail and grinded to the bottom. One he landed he looked back at his attacker, a giant crystal snake. "Enough of this!" Symbol jumped at the beast and punched it in the face, causing it to shatter. He looked around and called out into the purple limbo. "Vivi! Forge!" He got no response. "Dammit, looks like I'm alone for this one." Symbol wore a blue shirt with a black t-shirt underneath, he wore blue jeans, white trainers and a necklace with a pendant with the symbol of the sun on it. "Where did that token take me exactly?" Suddenly, another portal opened up not too far from him. Out from the portal, fell a human that appeared to be in his late teens, most likely 18. He had blood red hair and eyes. He was wearing a blood red jacket with black stripes. He had a black undershirt, black jeans, and red shoes. He was about to land on his face, but he flipped over and landed squarely on his feet. He stood up slowly and looked around. His gaze stopped on Symbol. He grunted. “So, you summoned me here?” "I think it's the other way around bud, it was a token that brought me here. And by the way, with your design I think Red Haired Shanks needs to sue somebody.” Epidemic’s gaze hardened. “So, I’m facing another arrogant fool that thinks he can say what he wants and not get compensation for it.” "Please, come at me when you grow up in Masereth then I might consider you a threat." Epidemic just glared at him. “Fine, let’s see how far your foolishness gets you.” "I'm anything but foolish, but I don't wanna fight you, I sense two other young beings within you that I don't wanna hurt." Symbol grasped his necklace. "I've done too much of that already..." “Hmph, too bad. You need to learn there is more to someone than just appearance. Besides, the Twins won't feel a thing as long as I’m around.” Epidemic grew blood red dragon horns, wings, and a tail. His teeth and nails became longer and sharp. Symbol looked at him and saw something familiar inside of Epidemic, he saw himself a little. "It would appear that we share two things in common." Epidemic smirked and flew at Symbol. Symbol waited for Epidemic to charge at him, then he dodged once Epidemic got close enough. However, it seemed that Symbol had indeed underestimated Epidemic, for he was ready for that dodge. He turned sideways and blasted Symbol point blank with his blood red fire. As Symbol crashed into a stone wall he fell to the ground face first. Epidemic looked at him and shook his head, walking over to finish the job he then suddenly stopped. Feeling something that he had not felt since he first faced the Dovahkiin.... the excitement of battle, as well as the fear of his opponent’s power. "Number one, we are both willing to sacrifice ourselves for our siblings." Symbol slowly got up, purple mist seeping from his body and surrounding the battle area. "Number two..." His skin turned dark grey, his hair became spiked and pitch black. His eyes seeped blood that formed red lines from his eyes to his chin, his fingers turned to claws and he grew four dark tendrils out of his back. His shirt turned purple as well as his shoes. When he opened his eyes Epidemic flinched. Symbol’s eyes had gone completely black with only red glowing dots as pupils. "...we can both transform into demons." His voice was now crackled and dark. Epidemic then smirked. “So, now you’re going all out? Good, now I’ll have an opponent that’s actually a challenge for once." "Word of the wise kid, don't challenge a Nightmare to a fight!" Symbol charged and kneed Epidemic in the stomach, then punched him in the face. He then grabbed his head and started squeezing, sinking his claws into Epidemics skull. Epidemic kicked him off and stabbed him with his horns and tail. Symbol then copied the attack with his tendrils stabbing Epidemic in the back. They both struggled against each other before breaking apart. Symbol crossed his arms and started attacking with his tendrils. Epidemic dodged each one as they shot towards him, causing them to stab the ground. Grabbing one of the tendrils in his claws Epidemic ripped it off of Symbols back. He was surprised to see that he suffered no damage and merely grew the limb back. Symbol held out a hand and a cloud of purple mist came to him. It shaped into multiple small spears and were launched at Epidemic. He managed to dodge most of them, only to get one square in the chest. Taking advantage of his Symbol charged up energy in his claws and the tips glowed purple. Upon reaching Epidemic he swiped at him, causing a large amount of blood to spew from the wound. Epidemic grabbed Symbol by the shoulders and headbutted him, causing him to stagger. He shot his tail into Symbol and began rapidly punching him in the stomach. Just then the surrounding purple mist converged on Epidemic, sealing him in a large ball preventing him from moving. Symbol slowly got to his feet and held out his hand. "You ever hear about a guy named Gaara?" Epidemics eyes went wide. "Darkness Coffin!" The mist crushed Epidemic and he screamed in pain. His body fell limp and Symbol shook his head. "Get up, I know you can fight harder than that, you just need a little motivation." Symbol shot a tendril into Epidemics back. "Have some nightmares!" Epidemic stood up only to fall to his knees at what he saw. Dark thoughts started flooding Epidemic’s mind, thoughts of killing the twins, killing his loved ones. He yelled in pain and collapsed. Symbol let him go and started to walk away. "I'll let you recover from that, I never meant to go that far." “He he, he ha, ha ha ha, AH HA HA HA HA!” Symbol froze, and slowly turned around. Epidemic was surrounded by a huge red aura. The air had become suffocating, the gravity seemed heavier, and everything was shaking. He slowly got up. "I probably shouldn't have done that." Symbol cleared out the area he was standing in with the purple mist, forming a defensive barrier. Epidemic walked up to it. “You know, you were right about us both being able to become demons, but there is one difference. If you give me visions of killing those I love, I don’t get sad or scared, I get angry, and you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.” He finished his journey to the shield. "First of all, boo! Second..." Epidemic burst through the defensive barrier and Symbol caught the punch without even flinching. "You only saw visions of killing your loved ones..." He grabbed Epidemic by the neck and brought him close until they were face to face. "...YOU'VE NEVER ACTUALLY HAD TO KILL YOUR LOVED ONES!!!" Epidemic just continued to smirk. “You know something? I couldn’t care less.” Suddenly, Epidemic became all black, and his body swelled into tendrils that enveloped Symbol. Symbol had no idea what was going on, but he did know that his mind was suddenly disconnected from his body. The tendrils fused with him, and All that was left was Symbol, with one difference. His body was all dark red, with his body having a blood red outline. He held up his hands. “Hmm, what an interesting body, it should prove useful.” When he spoke, he had a very deep demonic voice. Just then Symbols body became purple again. Purple flames surrounded the two and cracks showed on Symbols body. The ground shook and a bright light enveloped the area. Epidemic was thrown off and he looked at Symbol. He only gawked at Symbols new body. Symbol was now made entirely of purple fire, his eyes glowing yellow. "You don't know...what it's like...to slaughter hundreds of innocent people…” He slowly walked over to Epidemic with his body slouched and his head facing the ground. "You don't know...what it's like...to watch as the one thing that brings you happiness in a world of desperation and crime is taken from you..." The purple flames formed chains and held Epidemic down as Symbol yelled in his face. "YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT HELL MY LIFE HAS BEEN!!!" A pillar of fire shot out from underneath Epidemic, damaging him greatly. Symbol then swung his fist and a huge blast of flames hit Epidemic square in the chest. Symbol took a step back and breathed heavily. “You think you know pain?” Symbol looked at Epidemic. The red aura returned, and he started to change. His rage mode was appearing, and Symbol could only watch as he grew stronger. “I know, what true pain is. I have every memory that my father had, I know every experience as if I was there, so I have felt all of that pain. True pain, is showing up in a strange world, with no memories to call your own. True pain, is immediately getting attacked for what you are, not who you are, and knowing nothing but war for the first few thousand years of your existence. True pain, is making friends, and taking care of a kingdom, only to watch it all get destroyed BECAUSE OF YOU! TRUE PAIN IS GOING FROM NOTHING, TO EVERYTHING, AND BACK AGAIN! If you think you know true pain, then you have a lot to learn.” "I've come across this before...with a displaced known as Bill Cipher, he had all of the memories of Cipher and his dark thoughts...he had memories of the pain...he never actually lived through it all...neither did you!" Epidemic just looked up. “Do you know what I am?” Symbol grabbed Epidemics head again and stared into his eyes. "When I gave you those visions I looked into your memories...that's all they are. I know what you are, a creature of rage, of despair, you never had a chance to be happy...those memories felt real but also fake, you suffered truly from them, but not the full amount of pain was fed to you." “You still don’t get it do you?” ”What are you talking about?” “I told you I remember those memories like I had experienced them. Let me rephrase that. I had experienced them, want to know how? I am a Symbiote, my body was made before my mind was. My mind came from my father. I was once a part of him! THOSE MEMORIES ARE JUST AS MUCH HIS AS THEY ARE MINE! THAT BILL CIPHER THAT I SAW WHEN WE FUSED KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT PAIN! THOSE WERE MEMORIES HE GOT FROM SOMETHING ELSE! I AM DIFFERENT! I WAS THERE WHEN THOSE THINGS HAPPENED! I USED TO BE MY FATHER’S INNER MONSTER! Then, I was given a body of my own to share with my siblings, and I was happy. But I still remembered those things that happened in the past, SO DON’T YOU DARE TELL ME THAT THOSE MEMORIES ARE NOT MINE!” Symbol placed his forehead on Epidemics and started pouring his own memories into him. Epidemics eyes widened at what he saw, hundreds of deaths, untold misery, loss, grief and nothing but darkness. He threw Symbol off of him, shaken by those images. "HOW WAS THAT HUH!?! WAS THAT LESS THAN WHAT YOU WENT THROUGH!?! HUH!?!" Symbol grasped his head in pain. "You've known happiness...I haven't...I've never even smiled before...I never got a second chance...even in Equestria I've slaughtered like it was nothing." “Heh, so we really do know each other’s pain huh? We know each other's exact pain.” Symbol looked at him. “It’s weird really. We’ve lost the exact same people, in very similar ways. Not only that, but I’ve killed just as many as you have, when my father and I were one.” Epidemic looked up. “Seems as if we both know true pain.” "It's no use comparing our pasts...we've had the exact same experiences. You don't think...we could be alternative versions of each other do you?" “EPIDEMIC!” They both turned to see Marx running to them. When he got to them, he crouched and put his hands on his knees. “Pant… I… finally… found… you … huff.. huff..” He looked to see that Epidemic was looking at something. "What are you..." When Marx turned and saw Symbol he gasped at his current form. He grabbed Epidemic by the shoulders and yelled in his face. "PLEASE DON'T TELL ME YOU ANGERED HIM!!!" “You care why?” "You know about that powerful displacer I work for right? The Author?" “Yes, what about him?” "THAT'S HIS SON!!!" “And I should care why?” "If he's already reached the fire state now that means his positive side will slowly start to disappear, he'll be nothing but pure darkness at the end of all this!" "AHEM!!!" They both looked to see Symbol in his normal state taping his foot impatiently. "I am sick of not being told things, who is this 'Author,’ what do you mean by fire state and WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?!" “Oooo, shit. Um, forget I said that, you’re not supposed to know about that stuff yet.” Symbol sighed and walked over to Marx, then giving him a hard kick in the groin which for some reason actually hurt. "Right in the mommy daddy button..." Marx held his crotch and collapsed to the ground. Then he stood. “Okay we have no time for shenanigans. I called you both here for a reason!” “Wait, you brought us here?” “Yes, I did. One, Epidemic you were bored so I decided to give you something to do. And as for you Symbol, I’m giving you a reason to smile for once.” "I highly doubt that." “Look, you may not think so, but I’m pretty good at getting through to people, and if I say that I brought you here to smile, that’s what I mean. Now, can you sense anything familiar here Symbol?” Deciding to humor the skeleton, Symbol clutched his necklace and closed his eyes. Seconds later he back-pedalled, a look of disbelief plastered on his face. "It can't be..." “Yes, it is. Her soul is here Symbol. When I found out about the fact that you had never smiled, I just couldn’t take it! SOOO, I spent that last couple years looking for her soul. I finally found it all the way over here, at the edge of the void.” Symbol just hugged Marx and shot off in the direction of the lost soul. Epidemic walked up to Marx. “Whose soul did you find?” “I guess you could say she’s, family. But, there is one problem.” “What?” “Well, DEATH ain't too keen on letting me have another person cheat him again, so he upped his game by putting up some guards. That’s where you come in. You need to help him take them out.” Epidemic nodded and flew after Symbol. “BY THE WAY! NEITHER OF YOU KNOW REAL PAIN! SPEND FIVE SECONDS IN THE BLACK PLAIN AND THEN TELL ME WHAT TRUE PAIN IS!” "GET OUT OF MY WAY!!!" The ground shook as Symbol roared, a loud cry of pain could be heard in the distance. Epidemic looked over to see a field of purple fire. ‘Hm, this should be interesting.” He increased his speed and arrived at the battle field shortly. He knew he would need a lot of power, so he did what he does best. He focused on all of his negative memories, and started to get mad. His Rage mode became unleashed and he roared and joined Symbol on the battlefield. As he landed he took a moment to examine Symbols power. It was three times as strong as when they had fought, and his rage seemed all the more...personal. "I FAILED HER ONCE, I WON'T FAIL HER AGAIN!!!" A giant crystal hydra fell to the ground and burned to ash in the fire. Epidemic smirked. ‘So, this is all for family? Now that’s something I can fight for.’ Epidemic decided to hold nothing back. He became his dragon self, now in rage mode, and began to fight off the beings that tried to prevent them from saving that girls soul. Symbol noticed the change in his ally. ‘So he’s a dragon huh? Interesting.’ Symbol then spotted a soft yellow glow in a cage. His rage intensified and a huge wave of fire swept around him. When the fire dispersed he now had wings of purple flame and purple armour. He charged through a swarm of smaller enemies with all his might and reached out as he destroyed each enemy that put him to a stop. "HOLD ON, I'M COMING!!!As he was near the cage he reached out. "ABIGAIL!!!" Suddenly, something nailed him in the gut and he was thrown back, right into Epidemic. They both looked at who had thrown Symbol back. I was a cloaked figure, with a huge scythe. “Ah ah ah. Not this time. I already let Marx bring one person back from the dead, I won't let it happen again.” Symbol growled and summoned giant tendrils of fire to float beside him. "I have killed hundreds to try and get her back...I have destroyed entire cities to get her back! Symbol threw the tendrils at DEATH and pinned him down. "NOT EVEN GOD HIMSELF WILL STOP ME FROM SAVING HER!!!" DEATH threw the tendrils off of him and summoned more monsters. They charged and attacked. Epidemic and Symbol tried to fight them off, but they were getting overwhelmed. ‘Hmm, they weren’t as tough as I thought they would be.’ Inside of the pile of monsters, Symbol and Epidemic struggled. Symbol pushed with all his might but was pushed right back down. ‘It’s all over, I’ve failed her again.’ “Hey, don’t give up yet." "What?" “Look, things may be tough right now, and it may look like all is lost, but don’t give up yet. After all, family, is everything.” Epidemic held out a wing. Symbol nodded, and grabbed it. Epidemic became all black, and they began to fuse. Outside of the pile, DEATH was about to leave, when he noticed something. Epidemic and Symbol had two different auras. Those auras had now become one, and their power was skyrocketing. The pile of monster shook once. Then again. Then once more, before it exploded. DEATH averted his eyes from the blast. When he looked back, he saw what they had become. It was Symbol, but now he had very different looking armor. He had armor the was primarily black, and secondarily blood red. It looked like it was made from dragon bones and scales. The shoulder pads were dragon heads, and the armor had a dragon tail and wings. His eyes were glowing red and his hair had become red fire. He had a huge scythe in his hand, and he was surrounded by a red aura. He looked up at DEATH. “DEATH! We give you one chance to leave this place and allow us to take Abigail. Resist us and you will die!” “Hmph, you think you stand a chance in hell against me? Very well, but before I kill you, what is your name?” “We, are Symbolic, and we will get Abigail back." Symbolic swung his scythe sending a huge wave of fire towards DEATH, he blocked it with his own scythe but back-pedalled due to the force. Symbolic charged forward with an aura of fire around him. He stabbed his tail into DEATHs chest and began to rapidly punch his face with burning fists. He was flung off and sliced by DEATH’s scythe, although no damage was done to the armour or body. Symbolic flinched as his mind started becoming corrupt. 'No, I don't need Nightmare for this fight!' Grasping his medallion a warm purple glow surrounded him, dispelling the curse. "Interesting." Symbolic dodged another blow and sent a pillar of fire at his opponent. DEATH picked him up and smashed him into the ground. He then sent a swarm of monsters to beat him while he was down. A pillar of fire shot through the swarm freeing Symbolic. He held out his scythe and it began to change shape. It split in two and formed swords with smooth blades that had glowing orange cracks. DEATH charged forward and swung his scythe only for it to be effortlessly blocked by one of the blades, leaving him open to a strike from the other. DEATH was threw backwards with a large burning gash on his chest. Symbolic held out his swords and hundreds more appeared around him. They all aimed at DEATH and were shot full force at him. After five minutes of being repeatedly stabbed by wave after wave of burning blades, DEATH burst into a cloud of dust and flew away. "YOU WILL REGRET THIS MORTALS!!!" 'That was kinda anticlimactic...' The two separated from their fusion. Once on the ground Symbol sprinted over to the cage, he charged up energy in his fist and jumped. Bringing his fist down on the cage it shattered like glass. Symbol grabbed a falling yellow orb and landed with a tumble, making sure the orb wasn't damaged. Epidemic just stood and watched as Symbol slowly got up and stared at the orb with tears in his eyes. "After everything...after all these years...I finally found you..." He placed the orb to his forehead and started crying. "...my sweet, sweet sister..." Epidemic felt Symbol’s positive energy skyrocket... Then it came to a complete stop and shrank right back down. The tears immediately stopped and Symbols face became stern. "MARX!!!" The skeleton appeared and looked at Symbol confused. He looked at the orb and scanned it, then his eyes went wide. "She's suffering..." "Marx, is there any way to give her a new life?" "She'd never remember yo-" "I DON'T CARE!!!" He looked at the orb. "She's lived a terrible life, if I can't stop her suffering I can at least give her a second chance..." 'After all those years of searching and fighting, this is what he finds. His sister in torment and corrupt...' Epidemic closed his eyes and flinched. "We can reincarnate her as a pony in your Equestria, that way you can keep an eye on her." Marx placed his hand on the orb. "I will give her the good memories she shared with you and Zero and this moment in visions, that way she will remember you, and what you did for her here." Symbol nodded and they stood opposite each other, hands on the orbs. The orb glowed and broke into dust, then the dust formed a ghost of a young girl. She walked over to Symbol and hugged him. Tears fell from Symbols eyes as he embraced his sister for the last time. Thank you...Neo... With that the dust broke apart and formed a small crystal. Marx grabbed it and handed it to Symbol. "When you are ready, crush this in your hand. That will send her soul into a developing foal, one without its soul created at that moment. Her soul will wait until a suitable vessel has been chosen." Symbol nodded and held the gem tightly. "I'm sorry I couldn't make you smile." "Don't worry about it. The time will come when I smile, it's just not today." Epidemic grunted. “Not this time, NOT FUCKING THIS TIME!” Epidemic became all black and fused with the crystal, entering Abigail’s mind. He flew through the empty vessel, and found the core of her memories. He attached to it, and gave her every memory Symbol ever had of her. However, her mind tried to reject them. “NO! I WON’T LET ANOTHER FAMILY GET SEPARATED BECAUSE SOME FUCKING DEITY WANTS THEM TO BE! I WON’T LET THIS HAPPEN! NOT NOW, NOT EVER!” Epidemic pushed through the resistance and forced the memories in. Abigail's mind took them, and inserted them into her memory. But, for some reason they were locked. Epidemic grunted again. “Hmph, they’re locked away for now, but she’ll remember, they’ll remember.” He spread some of his own physical matter out and Abigail’s mind accepted it, then split in two, one was a symbiote pony, the other was just a pony. “The day will come when they’ll remember. And once they do, they’ll find each other.” Symbol was wondering what the hell Epidemic was doing until he was ejected from the crystal, which then split in two. Marx and Symbol helped him up and they looked at the two crystals. “Epidemic you… how did you?” “Family means everything, and I wasn’t about to let another family get separated because some deity wished it so.” “Wait, what did he do to Abigail?” “He, he went into her mind and inserted every memory you had of her, and inserted some of his own physical matter so that her soul split in two. Half of it is a symbiote pony, the other is just a pony. Now, there’s a way for her to recognize you Symbol.” Symbol looked at the two crystals and picked them up. "So...the symbiote is like Venom right? Except this won't try to take over my body, but share it?" Epidemic shook his head. “No, that’s not how she works. She’s like me, her own being, but she won't have to fuse with somepony in order to live on. I made that part of her soul Symbiote so I could keep an eye on that half. I’m connected to her, so I’ll know if she’s in danger and I can come to defend her.” Symbol walked over and held out his hand. "If you are willing to do that for me, for her...I welcome you as my brother." Epidemic took it. “Like I’ve said before, family is everything. If you can understand that, then I will gladly welcome you as my brother.” "I think we both know that I understood that from a young age." Epidemic just laughed. “Yeah, I guess so. But hey, where’s that smile? You got a reason to smile now don’t you?” Symbol looked away for a second before laughing for the first time in his life. "What kinda world do I live in?" They both hugged and separated. "I think I can bare to smile just this one time." “Yeah well, if you ever need another reason, come meet the rest of the family, they’ll be happy to meet you.” "Why not, time's frozen back home so I have the time...well...you know what I mean." Epidemic just laughed. “Well come on then!” A portal opened and Symbol and Epidemic jumped in, leaving Marx behind. Just then Symbol grabbed Marx through the portal. "Don't think I forgot about you! You are going to explain everything to me!" Marx whimpered and was dragged through the portal. "Author is gonna kill me..."