Chapter 4: Monsters or not?
----POV: Brutalight Sparcake----
Even though I am not at full power I managed to teleport me and my friends to our temporary base. It is simply a cave on the side of a mountain. Let's just say there used to be an occupant. Well... We did have to 'evict' a dragon.
Now, to the matters at hand.
I didn't expect him to be awake, neither did I expect the Spirit of Chaos to pass by. That bastard Jared... I wonder if he's free too.
The plan was simple, find Nathan and kill him while he is vulnerable. But there were so many complications.
I groaned and covered my face with my hooves er... Hands. I had to leave Nathan alone.
Nathan is probably one of the only friends Discord has. They have different goals but they still get along. It's ridiculous! Whenever Courage encountered the Spirit of Chaos they never actually fought against each other, in fact they did a 'yo mama' battle once.
And there is also that spell, a fate sharing glyph that I am not familiar with. I will need to research to dispel the circle. That means killing Courage is double no.
But why didn't Discord mess with us? He would usually pull a prank or annoy the hell out of me. He has the power to juggle the sun and moon without effort but he hasn't messed up Equestria nor has he confronted the princesses. He could have healed Courage...
Oh fuck.
He's not free! He simply came as a Astral Projection! I cannot read his magic level, it's almost like he's an anomaly, so I can never sense him using my magic. But when did he have a spirit walking ability? What's next!? Dream walking!? Driving ponies nuts with illogical behavior and fucking reality is enough!
"AAAAAARRRGGGHH! That bastard!" I stood up and fired a beam of magic that landed Celestia knows where.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
somewhere else
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Crapcrapcrapcrap. Crap!" Derpigun shouted as she managed to dodge the hungry maws of the Hydra. "Eat this!" Her hand morphed into a mini gun, she then let out a stream of bullets.
The Hydra was kept at bay by the impressive firepower, it roared in pain as the hydra was shredded by lead. *Click* "Huh?" Derpigun then banged the mini gun with her other hand. She then aimed again at the Hydra. *ClickClickClick*
"Hehehehe..." The hydra then faced derpigun. "Muffin?" Derpigun pulled out a muffin from wherever and offered it to the hydra.
All of the Hydra's heads then reared back then roared. "Thought so. Ahhhhhhhhh!" She then flew away as the hydra chased her. She looked back as she took flight and bumped into a tree. "(Ow.)" She mumbled.
The hydra was about to swallow derpigun whole.
A spell landed on the dimwitted hydra and it was vaporized. The blast was so great that derpigun got sent a good distance.
"Ahhhhhhh! *Crash*" Derpigun was then embedded on one of the walls of the Castle of the Two Sisters. "(I don't know what went wrong.)" She mumbled.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back to Brutalight
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My friends were suprised by my sudden outburst but soon returned to what they were doing.
I rubbed my temples and sat down. Getting upset won't solve anything, I have to stay calm. "Ugghh my head..." I can't fire massive spells without getting a migraine. That teleport a while ago took a lot out of me. It might take weeks before I completely recover from imprisonment.
Celestia is a fool anyway, she'll probably send the elements after Courage first, but I doubt that Celestia will immediately imprison him.
Courage could have killed Rainbine and Applepills but why hasn't he? He didn't know about the magic circle...
This is frustrating!
I couldn't kill that idiot and I also almost had me and my friends killed. If Discord didn't warn me we would all be in Tartarus right now.
"Uggghhh..." I groaned and ran my hands down my face. I glanced at each of my friends.
Pinkis, her coat is a dark shade of pink and her mane is red. She is wearing a red skirt and a blood stained white T-shirt. She is sleeping on top of the dragon we killed. She is cuddling the dragon's skull and gnawing one of its bones in her sleep.
Rainbine was lying on the ground, we managed to fix her but she hasn't woken up yet.
Rarifruit. She has a elegantly styled mane that is light violet with two darker colored streaks running through along with her alabaster coat. Where is her hat? She is currently picking out jewelry from the dragon's hoard.
Applepills on the other hand was awake and trying to open a bunch of painkillers without crushing the bottle. "Aw crap!" Applepills swore as she failed to open the bottle. Shouldn't it be easier?
Fluttershout. Red mane yellow coat. One of her eyes are red the other is blue. She's wearing a red and white stripped dress and red high heels along with a similarly striped top hat. She was simply looking bored.
Fluttershout went up to Applepills and said with a roll of her eyes... "Ugh. You're so pathetic, let me open it." Applepills simply glared at Fluttershout. Fluttershout crossed her arms and used the stare on her. Applepills flinched and begrudgingly gave the bottle.
Fluttershout opened it with a pop. She was about to hand the pills over, when Applepills lunged at her for the pills. "MY PRECIOUS!"
"Hey!" Fluttershout shouted. I could only facehoof... Or facepalm? Applepills was now on top of Fluttershout. I groaned as I ran my hands Down my face. "Brutalight? A little help here?" Fluttershout asked.
Applepills was laughing maniacally while holding the bottle in her hands. "My precious... No one's going to take you away from me... No... No... Yes I understand Yes... Yes..." She then dumped the contents into her mouth.
"Rarifruit. Please help, get Applepills off Fluttershout." I asked Rarifruit as I closed my eyes while rubbing my temples.
Rarifruit simply ignored me as she was brushing her mane. I opened my eyes and glared at her. A few minutes later she put aside the mirror. "Somepony was talking darling?" I simply pointed at Fluttershout.
I was about to say something when Fluttershout cut me off. "Oh Rarifruit no one's talking! We were just opening our mouths and making noise!" Fluttershout said with heavy sarcasm. "Just get me out of here!" She wailed.
Rarifruit slid down the pile of treasure and went up to Fluttershout. "Oh hush. You shouldn't have disturbed her. You know some of us can't control our urges." Rarifruit stated while looking at her fingernails.
Fluttershout smirked. "Oh look there's a cute fancy pink hat." Fluttershout said with a roll of her eyes.
"Where!? Where!? Mine!" Fluttershout started snickering at her. Rarifruit frowned and rolled her eyes. "Yes hilarious." How can Pinkis sleep through all this noise? "I hope you enjoy it down there dear." Rarifruit countered with a smirk.
Can't they shut up!? I'm trying to think here! I have to wait for Rainbine before discuss our plans. "Oh of course Rarifruit, I'm enjoying myself." Fluttershout snapped back. Applepills was still oblivious to what was happening around her... "And I'm sure you will enjoy when I scream~!"
Oh fuck.
Ear rape. A supersonic attack that can be heard from miles away. I got attacked by a freak named Assnick once. Learned from there supersonic attacks aren't pleasant.
Pinkis was still sleeping. But Applepills froze and dropped her pills. Rarifruit looked scared. "Your kidding. Your kidding... Right?" Rarifruit asked nervously.
Fluttershout closed her eyes and smiled. "I'm gonna scream~!" She said happily.
"No no no no. Please don't." Rarifruit begged.
"You better get her off me and apologise. I really mean it!" This going to get ugly. Applepills stuck two bottles in her ears and smiled.
Fluttershout closed her eyes, inhaled and was about to unleash her Ear Rape.. Argh! Why am I the only mature one!? "That's enough!" I shouted at them. I stood up and flared my wings. Pinkis simply stirred, Rainbine twitched, the rest froze.
"Rarifruit just help Fluttershout!" I shouted out.
Rarifruit's horn and gauntlet of greed glowed purple. A giant hand made of magic scooped up Applepills and dropped her on the ground. "Hey!" Applepills glared at Rarifruit for a moment then turned her attention back to her pills.
"So Brutalight, what are we going to do now?" Fluttershout asked as she got up.
"Darling, I say that I'm interested in this plan of yours." Rarifruit added.
"Wake Pinkis up soon. We are going to discuss our plan soon." I told them.
"How about Rainbine?" Applepills asked as she diverted her attention from her pills for a moment.
Pinkis opened her eyes and groaned. "*Yawn." Morning guys... Or night..." She then crawled over to me while making her signature shotgun cocking sound. She then stood beside me. "Brutalight, I'll wake Rainbine up." She was listening?
"You were listening?" I asked her.
"Yeah. Just gimme a sec I got this. Applepills! Can you come over here!?" Pinkis asked our drug addicted friend. Applepills looked at me and I nodded. She groaned and went over to Pinkis. Pinkis nodded and Applepills nodded back. Pinkis then shouted in Rainbine's ear. "THAT IDIOT NATHAN IS CHALLENGING YOU!"
Rainbine suddenly came to life. "WHERE IS HE!? LET ME AT HIM! LEMME AT HIM!" She then bolted off. Applepills grabbed the cyborg's tail and slammed her into the ground.
"Ugghh..." Rainbine groaned as she picked herself up. "What was that for!" She then grabbed Applepills by her jacket.
"You were lazying around! Plus once you got up you were going to get yourself killed!" Applepills answered. "All of us killed! Or do I have to knock it into that skull of yours!"
"In your dreams. I'm 120% cooler than you! I can take you on anytime." Rainbine the glowed and struck a pose and Applepills scoffed.
They glared at each other so intense, that it looked like lightning shot out of their eyes and clashed. Rainbine lunged herself at Applepills and they fought in a cartoonish cloud of smoke.
After a while Fluttershout stopped them. "I'm tired. Of. Your fucking! SHIT!" Fluttershout... Shouted. Where does the lightning come from? "We're doing nothing! Instead we bicker here and waste our fucking time!"
The two bickering ponies stopped fighting and was strucked by terror, Rarifruit and Pinkis hugged each other in fear.
"Rainbine." The cyborg got up and gave her attention to me. "You can't kill Courage."
"WHAT!" Rainbine exclaimed. This is going to be a long explanation...
+-Later On-+
After explaining to Rainbine the spell Jared cast on us, we sat down and prepared to discuss our plans.
"That bastard! When I get my hooves on him he's going to be in a world of hurt!" Rainbine cursed as she punched the ground. "So what are we going to do know!?" She asked as she threw her arms up.
"We can deal with Courage later. We need to take off the glyph soon. I'd doubt that he could kill himself but if he gets caught again we're all in the same boat." I stated.
"Can't you just, I don't know, magic it away?" Rainbine asked.
"Of course not darling. Me and Brutalight tried to, it's not that easy." Rarifruit said with a frown.
"That's why I'm sending you and Applepills to the archives in Canterlot once Rarifruit regains all of her magic." I told her
"Pardon? Why me?"
"Mwa? I don't know Brutalight... It might take a while before I can pull this off..."
"Rarifruit can slip in undetected, while you, Applepills, are the muscle if things go wrong. Our priority is to find a spell that can dispell the glyph. Without alerting the guards and without getting caught. Secondary goals include killing Jared or one of the princesses, acquiring Jared's gauntlet, and an anti mind control spell." I stated.
"An why won't you go Brutalight?" Applepills asked.
"Because the princesses might sense me, among us all I have the most magic power." I explained. "Rainbine and Pinkis aren't exactly stealthy, while Fluttershout's ability makes a huge racket."
"Soooo... Brutalight." I looked at Rainbine who raised her hand. "Do you know... A spell... That can give me larger boobs?" What. Those squishy things on humans and on our chest?
All of us just stared at her. "What does... Boobs... Have to do with our plan to take over Equestria?" I slowly asked. "And more importantly... Why?" This is ridiculous.
"All of you have big ones! My chest is flat!" She emphasized her point by pulling two grenades out of her armor. "Well... I like to..." Rainbine began. "Well you know... It feels good when I grope them. I can't exactly grope it if it's flat." She explained. Her wings the popped with a audible pomf while she was smiling.
Fluttershout sighed, Pinkis and Applepills Snickered, Rarifruit shook her head, and I facepalmed.
"Is that all?" I mumbled.
"Yep."
"Who else have any concerns?" I asked my friends. Fluttershout raised her hand. "Yes, Fluttershout?"
"Why won't we try and bring Nathan to our side?" Fluttershout offered.
"I'm not working with him!" Rainbine exclaimed.
I held my chin in thought. If we could bring him to our side... He does have a grudge against Celestia. His power rivals Celestia's and Luna's combined. But I wonder, what can we do to sway him...
"We could try... But it will not be easy. Do you think you can convince him Fluttershout?" I asked the once timid pegasus.
She was humming to herself, I coughed and she snapped out of whatever she was thinking about. "Oh! Uh yeah I'll try..." She then stared off into the distance and continued humming.
"But it is not likely that he will join us. We need to identity his weaknesses." I said.
Applepills raised her hand. "His family maker is a weak spot." She then swallowed a handful of pills. Earning snickers from Pinkis.
"Darling that is common knowledge. But still effective." Rarifruit mused.
I then turned to face Rainbine. "Rainbine. Did you see any other weakness of any sort while fighting him?" I asked her.
She thought for a while before answering. "Nah. I hate to admit it but, that guy is near invisible. I stabbed him in the chest and shot him several times!" I groaned and thought 'No one is invincible. He has to have some sort of weakness.' As looked at the ground.
"But I did notice a few odd things." Like what? I looked at the cyborg. "He was wearing his shades when we fought earlier this morning. I never saw him take off his shades, but he took them off when we fought at night."
"And what's so odd about that?" Pinkis asked.
"I mean like duh. Who wears shades at night?" Fluttershout asked.
"Probably just his style darling." Rarifruit suggested. "Like me and Fluttershout, we don't take off our hats even if we sleep." Hmm... I don't think so.
"Maybe he inhales moondust or licks salt." Applepills offered. We all looked at our resident addict. "Well... Ponies who lick salt have redder eyes. Moondust on the other hand has the same effect but it works with other races." She then swallowed a another mouthful of pills.
"Nah I saw his eyes. They were yellow and had cat like irises." Rainbine answered. Cat like eyes? Humans aren't nocturnal, but a human can't take that much punishment either.
"Pray tell darling, when did you manage to look past your ego and actually notice something else?" Rarifruit asked with a smirk.
"Pegasi do have good eyesight and better reflexes, we also have photographic memory." All of us could only stare at her. "What! I know stuff too! Like how awesome I am!" She flew up and puffed her chest.
"We cannot face him head on we need allies." I held my chin in thought. "I wonder who can aid us right now..." I asked to no one in particular.
"Sombra?" Pinkis asked.
"Braindead." I answered.
"Tirek?" Rarifruit suggested.
"That double crossing bastard? No!"
"One of the other demons from Tartarus?" Rainbine asked.
"To risky." I answered.
"How about... Discord?" Fluttershout suggested.
"Hmm... He's an ideal candidate but he is friends with Courage. He would aid us but he wouldn't fight Courage directly." Probably. Plus he's not free.
"Chrysalis?" Applepills suggested. "What? I think she's a darn good candidate."
Yes, she's desperate and she has a bone to pick with Courage. "Perfect! The only problem is that we don't know where her hive is exactly." I said.
"I'll scout the Badlands. It can't be that hard." Rainbine offered.
"Ok. We will move in a few weeks time. We need to recover first. We will enlist the help of Chrysalis and Discord, I will discus the intricacies of my plan then." I then stood up and walked towards the mouth of the cave.
"The game has begun."
"Uhh... Brutalight?"
I turned around and face Fluttershout. "Yes Fluttershout?"
"Where is... Derpigun?"
"Crap."
---POV: NATHAN---
0o0o0o0o0
Am I dead?
Nope still alive...
I looked around and I was floating in the darkness.
I can't see a thing.
As right on cue I saw a light. I looked around and I saw that the darkness has been replaced by water. Instinctively I began to swim towards the light. As I neared the light it grew brighter and brighter.
I reached out and I was started to be pulled back to the inky depths. I struggled and some unseen force pulled back. The more I struggled the faster I was pulled.
I closed my eyes and let go.
As I opened my eyes I was in a field. Green grass everywhere and beautiful flowers, the sun cast a beautiful golden sunset which seemed to warm my soul.
I lay down and plucked a flower. I brought it to my nose and sniffed its wonderful aroma. The flower suddenly began to wither, it then was blown away by the wind as dust.
The flora around me began to wither. I stood up and looked around in panic as the scenery became twisted.
The stars came out along with the moon. The moon slowly became red as it was poisoned. I looked at the red moon in horror.
"What's wrong?"
I turned around and I was faced by Nightmare Moon herself.
"I thought thou hast loved our night. This is merely an improvement." She then gestured to the moon.
"Luna I..."
"SILENCE! Thou hast been aware of our pain, our suffering! Yet you did not take action! We are Princess Luna no more! For I am Nightmare Moon!"
"Luna I tried..."
"You tried? Your men are naught but corpses. They believed in you!" The hundreds of ghost surrounded us.
"Yes, it seems you haven't tried enough." A grey stallion clad in armour. His horn was crimson and curved, he wore a cape that was blood red.
"Sombra." I growled.
"Yes you tried. You tried and everything crumbled around you. You didn't just fail Luna or your men, you failed her too." As he spoke a statue appeared, a princess, frozen in stone in a expression of horror.
Princess Amour Platinum.
Sombra then struck the statue and it shattered into a million pieces. Forever broken.
Another voice then rang out. "You thought you could be a hero, you lived long enough to be the villain. You desired freedom yet you were shackled. You swore to uphold justice, and it chose to forsake you!" Chrysalis.
She then continued. "Now tell me. Who are you!" A mirror appeared in front of me.
I looked at my reflection and a boy stared at me. Crying yet not comforted. "Are you this boy? A helpless child? No!"
The reflection then shifted into a teenager. Not quite a boy but neither a man. "Is this you? A juvenile, who dreamed of another world? No!"
The image shifted again into a young man, clad in gold and purple armour, with crimson hair and white wings. "Is this you? A hero, a man who upholds justice, who smites the wicked? No!"
"This is you!" The image was of the same man. He was wearing a torn coat and his armor was caked in his own blood and the blood of his enemies. He was grinning widely, smiling at the carnage he caused. "This you! You are a monster! No different than what you swore to destroy!"
"THIS IS YOUR DESTINY!" The there declared at the same time.
"No... No." I stepped back. This isn't who I am. "No! NOOOOOO!" I lunged forward and shattered the mirror.
"That is who you are!" They shouted.
"You're wrong... YOU'RE WRONG!" I drew my sword and ran towards them.
They suddenly disappeared. I looked around wildly for them. "I am not a monster!" I shouted out. The world around me distorted again and the background shifted into Tartarus.
I looked around and I was standing on topbof a mountain of corpses. "No... Wake up Nathan! It's just a dream. It's just a dream." I repeated like a mantra.
"It may be a dream." Celestia suddenly appeared in front of me. "I didn't know monsters had nightmares. It would seem I was too kind to imprison you in stone." Celestia doesn't talk like this. I'll wake up soon. I don't want this. No. I am not a monster!
"You should rot in hell along with all the people you have slain. I sentence you to eternal torment!" She then kicked me, I tumbled down the mountain of dead bodies, and landed into a pool of blood.
As I tried to get up, arms wrapped around me. I managed to get up and escape their grip, bodies then started to get up and walk towards me. "Stay back!" I shouted as I hacked and slashed through the undead horde.
Arms sprouted from the pool and wrapped around my legs. I struggled but it was futile, I was rooted in place. The arms then pulled me down into the depths.
"No! No no no no! Please don't! I don't want to die!" I wailed as the bodies wrapped around me as I sunk into the pool of blood. I reached out my hand in desperation.
I'm scarred.
"BEGONE FOUL IMAGES!" A voice rang out and the scene was replaced by a sea of stars.
"L-luna?"