//------------------------------// // Chapter Thirty Eight: Everlasting Peace // Story: A Displaced Dragon // by Prince_Zodiac //------------------------------// Chapter Thirteen: Everlasting Peace {Alduin's POV} As Lisa's army or Proxies began to charge towards us I raised one of my wings to give the command to attack, but before I could even give the order the first few rows of the attackers were completely destroyed by a large wave of blue transparent swords, much like Luna would use. They just kept rapidly shooting into the monsters bodies, causing them to collapse as corpses on the ground. When the barrage ended I looked to my side, not finding Metal who was there only a second before. I looked up and saw him with multiple lunar blades circling him as he glared down at the Proxies. He then grabbed two of them in his hands and the others disappeared. If that was the extent that he could use a copied ability to, I could wonder what he would be capable of if he were to copy my shouts. “You take care of the Proxies…” Metal began as he sighted his target. “...I'm going straight for Lisa.” “I hope you have a plan for when you get in there, I don't want to end up fighting you as well.” He just glanced at me for a second before shaking his head. “Just focus on the enemy, if I can't get her to see reason I have a backup plan.” “And that is?” I asked. If we were going to work together, I needed to know what he was planning. “You'll find out if it comes to that.” He merely stated as he landed and began walking towards the army with the blades in his hands. I just shook my head and roared, signaling my Proxies to charge. I looked to Lisa who had her eyes on Metal as he approached, both staring each other dead in the eye with a certain determination and understanding, as if they were talking just by looking at each other. As the Proxies clashed around us Metal merely smacked one away with a backhand and kept his pace. I took to the skies and charged a large group of the growing number of Lisa's minions and blasted them with a large breath of fire. A few jumped up behind me and bit down on my wings, causing me to fall to the ground. Before they could begin tearing at my flesh I turned my head around and used a shout to force them off. ”FUS RO DAH!” As they flew off from the force of the shout I spat out multiple fireballs which followed them before landing a hit. I grunted in pain as one of the Proxies jumped onto my back and stabbed its claw straight through my scales. I turned my head around to attack only for another Proxie to shot a beam of dark energy into my mouth, causing an explosion. As I stumbled the army of creatures began to pile onto me. My own Proxies were busy with the others and two Proxies holding my mouth open prevented me from shouting. As I struggled I saw a bright red light shining through the gaps in between monsters. “CHAOS...BLAST!!!” The Proxies were incinerated by a wave of red chaos energy. I looked up to see Metal floating above me in the center of the wave. “Get up, we’re losing too many of our Proxies, see what you can do to try to even the odds while I make a break for Lisa.” He instructed before shooting off in the direction of Lisa. “Alright, I’ll see what I can do!” I called back before taking to the skies. {Metals POV} I came to a halt as a large Proxie blocked my path to Lisa. It lunged forward to try and trap me in its jaw, instead it received a fist going mach two to the face, knocking its head clean off. I threw a blade behind me to stab a Proxie that tried to sneak up on me before moving my head to the side to avoid a tendril being shot at me. I grabbed the outstretched tendril in my hand and curdled into my spindash. The Proxie was repeatedly slammed into the ground as I spun in place with the tendril in my grasp. I unfurled myself and began to spin the Proxie around, knocking down multiple other monsters in the process before launching it into the air and blasting it with a chest beam. I turned to lock eyes with Lisa again, who just smirked and snapped her fingers, causing a horde of huge Proxies to appear around her, all looking at me. “Why don't I give you the challenge you deserve? After all, if we're going to be spending eternity together I need to know that you can fight a real battle.” She said sadistically with a seductive tone. I shook my head to free myself of whatever kind of spell she was trying to cast. “I've been fighting God-like beings all day today, what's a swarm of cannon fodder?” “Good question.” She giggled before flicking a tendril, causing all the larger Proxies to begin charging me. As they got closer and closer I shut my eyes and readied my fists. As the one at the front of the horde was about to strike me I spoke two words. “Chaos Control.” Time completely stopped around me, everything and everyone frozen in place. I quickly sped about the large Proxies and planted explosive dummy rings on each of them. I then went back to my original place and readied one of the rings in my hand to start the chain reaction. As I deactivated Chaos Control everything slowly began to turn to normal. As the Proxie was just about to touch me I threw the ring at his face. It exploded on impact, causing his to explode as well, which in turn caused a chain reaction. Soon a path was cleared to Lisa who was looking at my unimpressed. “Chaos Control...really? What kind of guy cheats like that?” “I prefer to get things done quickly.” I responded simply as I continued walking towards her. “You know for someone who wants to turn me to the darkness you seem more keen on destroying me rather than bringing me to your side.” “You can't blame a girl for wanting to have a little fun before things got serious can you? Besides, it looks to me as if you're giving yourself up?” She began to walk forward, two Proxjes close behind her. “Yeah, it's pretty useless to try and fight at this point, you'll just keep spawning these things, we'll tire out eventually. Plus, I'm wanting a little revenge on the multiverse for everything it has taken from both of us.” I answered as I reached her. She looked down at me with those empty eyes, I could feel her smirk. “Well, this certainly makes things easier for me. Now...come here you, I'm making you mine right here, right now.” She leaned down and grabbed me by the torso, bringing me up to eye level. She stared at me for awhile before gently placing her lips on mine, staring to link our minds together. ’Gotcha.’ As we began to enter each other's minds, I pushed her out of mine and forced myself into hers. It was time to break her out of this nightmare, and I swear to whatever God is watching this that if there is another damn villain or possession after this I'm tearing this world to shreds. She tried to stop me but failed, I had ceased control. Her Proxies ignored everything, not getting any commands from their master, so they just went on to fight the other Proxies and Auldin. ’Hang in there Lisa, I'm coming for you, I'll fix this.’ With one final push I was able to reach into her mind fully. Now, just to find her in this corrupted labyrinth. As I entered Lisa’s mind, I began to notice a change of scenery. Like in my own mind, my displaced form was shadowed over my human self. The area around me was like an abandoned kingdom. Buildings were empty, windows were broken, and there were cracks in the walls and cement. I seemed to be in some sort of shopping district. “So, Lisa’s mind is a castle? Hmm, considering how experienced she was with the mind, she may have made her consciousness into a fortress. Of course, when she’s not insane it’s probably not abandoned.” “You’d be right about that.” I stopped and turned, not expecting to see anyone here. At first I thought I would see Lisa, in her maddened glory. But instead, I saw a little girl with black hair, black eyes, and tan skin. She was wearing a smaller version of the dress Lisa always wore, but it now had straps over her shoulders. She also had that pin with the crossed out circle in her hair, and she held a black rose. “Um… hi?” “Hello! My name’s Lisa! I’ve never seen you around here before, are you new? Did you come to help me find everyone? Oh please say you have! It’s gotten really lonely without everyone else. What’s your name anyways?” “Uh, Metal. My name’s Metal.” “Metal? That’s a weird name. Oh well, so how come you’re here mister? Are you here to help me find everyone?” “Find everyone?” “Uh huh! All the other Lisas that used to be here. There were a lot of us. But then, when the scary lady stormed the castle and took over, everyone suddenly disappeared.” “Disappeared? Scary lady?” “Yeah, the scary lady. You know, the one with the empty eyes? She used to be locked away in a far away mountain, but then one day she just showed up here. Then one by one everyone started to disappear. The other Lisas tried to calm me down, but then they left too. I’ve been trying to find them, but I just can’t!” She looked down at the ground, sounding really sad. What the hell was going on here? Other Lisas? The scary lady? I was super confused by this point. I had expected to find a destroyed, messed up mass of chaos with Lisa somewhere in the middle. What I got was a destroyed kingdom, and some mystery along with it. “Um… well I’d love to help kid but-” “You would?! YAY!” She ran up and hugged me before she dashed off before stopping to motion for me to follow her, then running off again. I shook my head and ran after her. “So, what is this place?” “This is our mind.” “Our mind?” “Oh, sorry, I meant Lisa’s. This is a place she created so she could have a better defence for her mind and a good way to handle her memories. Unintentionally though, she created people like me, copies of her past. Every time a year passes, a new one forms, in the same state of mind and body as she was at the end of that year. Anyways, she also made this place to seal away the scary lady.” “And she is?” “The one that gives us our mad modes.” “Ah. So, whenever Lisa get into a mad mode, the scary lady takes over?” “Nope, she’s just released for a long time, around a couple years.” “A couple years? But Lisa’s never-” “Passage of time in here is very different then it is out there. A minute in the real world is a whole year here.” “Huh, well I guess that makes some things easier. So the scary lady has never taken over?’ “She used to sometimes a really long time ago. But then Lisa stopped her and sealed her away for good. But now somehow she broke out. The only reason why that could happen is if something bad happened and Lisa can no longer keep the scary lady in check.” ’Well, I’ve got a pretty good idea why she couldn’t this time.’ “Anyways, the scary lady started making the other Lisas disappear. Now I’m the only one left.” “Why hasn’t she gotten rid of you?” “Because in order to keep Lisa alive, one of us has to be around.” “How come she didn’t choose someone younger?” “I don’t know. The scary lady is kind of cocky, so maybe that’s why.” I nodded. “So, anything I can do to help?” “You can help me stop her!” “That's what I planned to do from the start. Alright, scary lady here I come!” “Be careful though! The scary lady isn’t limited here like she is out there! If we wanna beat her we need help!” “And who, might I ask, could help us?” “Someone that’s been here ever since the scary lady came here. He should be strong enough to assist us.” “Alright then, lead the way.” She turned a corner, and headed for the city’s exit, with me close behind. And so we set off, to find the one that could help us beat Lisa. You know, after this all blows over, I'm making sure this situation never happens to us again, we are far too easy to posses. I don't care if I have to destroy Lisa's mad modes to do it, and I know that they are basically the only things that have allowed her to fight powerful opponents and survive. But if this was what they could do to her, to all of us, they had to be destroyed. But I wasn't just about to leave her defenceless against guys like Nightmare or Xram. I had another plan to help her with that. I knew a good few people in the multiverse that would be willing to help us out with that particular issue, I had been earning favours over the course of my time there, so I've got a few things up my sleeve if needed. I noticed that the younger Lisa was having trouble running, most likely weakened due to the mad mode Lisa attacking. So I grabbed her by the waist and threw her onto my back where she wrapped her arms around my torso and wrapped her legs around my waist while still holding onto the flower in her hand. “Which way?” I asked while running at a faster pace. “Towards that mountain over there!” She answered while pointing to a mountain off in the distance. “Alright, hang on!” I had quickly learned that I still had my speed in the mindscape, so that allowed us to progress at a much faster rate. I couldn't reach mach speeds without my engine, but I could still clock in a couple of hundred miles per hour with my legs alone. But as I began to pick up more speed I felt the ground shake and some of the buildings began to crack, the cracks seeping with darkness. “Oh no! She's starting to turn everything dark!” The little Lisa exclaimed. “We won't be able to get him up in time to save Lisa!” I came to a screeching halt and set the girl down, confusing her. “You hurry on and get whoever it is taht can help us, I'll head back and hold off the mad mode until you get there.” “But you won't survive on your own!” “I knew that when I came here now go!” I ordered before speeding off again. The girl looked as if she was about to protest but just gave me a look of worry, a look I knew all too well from the real Lisa. I zipped through the streets of the abandoned kingdom, dodged dark cracks in the road that appeared suddenly, having them appear at a faster rate as I got closer to the main castle. “Don't even try to stop me, I will get my sister back even if I have to die to do it!” I charged right at the castle, intent on finding this, “scary lady” and setting Lisa free. {Young Lisa POV} I ran towards the mountain that he stayed at. I don’t know why he never told Lisa that he was here. He actually only told me, and then told me not to tell anyone else. I guess he knew that I would be the only one the scary lady didn’t take away. I guess it didn’t really matter right now, all I knew was that we needed his help. I soon approached the cave he lived in, and walked right in. I looked around. The cave was pretty bare. Contrary to what I remembered, he like to keep this simple. I strolled up to the only thing in the cave, a huge capsule. I knocked on the glass. “Uh, mister? We need your help. Metal came just like you said he would, and he went to fight the scary lady all on his own! Please, we need you!” I waited, but nothing. Then, I heard a loud noise, and the capsule opened. Smoke was pouring out, letting whatever was in stasis wake up. Then, two blue metal arms gripped the sides of the capsule before a red eye glowed. {Third POV} Metal rushed through the city as more cracks in the ground appeared all around him. As he dodged around, he made sure to keep his eyes on his target. The castle. Just as he rounded a corner, a tendril came rushing out of a random crack and nearly smacked him. He just barely dodged, and stared at the tendril in shock. “I see. So you’re fed up with trying to indirectly attack me and now you’re attacking me directly. Seems as though you see me as a real threat now.” With a nod, Metal sped past, continuing on to the castle. As he moved along, more and more tendrils came out, attempting to strike. Pretty soon, the tendrils stopped, only to be replaced by Proxies! “What the hell?!” Metal cried out as a Proxie took a swing at him. He jumped back and fired a beam at it, destroying it instantly. “Still got energy attacks in here, good to know.” More Proxies began walking out of the cracks, forcing Metal to hurry up and move. As he ran, he noticed that the Proxies were running up behind him, and gaining! He jumped up, turned mid air, and fired a powerful shot of energy. The shot exploded and annihilated the Proxies. He continued on, more and more proxies appearing behind him. “Don't you guys have anything better to do?!” Groaning in frustration, Metal back-pedalled, jumped into the air and slammed down onto the ground in a split second, sending a shockwave across the area, wiping out all the Proxies. “Thank you.” After that, he sped off towards the castle again. For a minute, it seemed as though the Proxies had given up chasing him. He knew this wasn't the case. There was no way that the one controlling these things would be stupid enough to just leave him alone. He turned out to be right as he turned a corner he found an entire swarm of the beasts waiting for him with one huge Proxie leading the charge. Behind the horde was the castle. He was almost there. He was so close to finding a way to free Lisa from her mental prison and end the corruption of her mind, and those Proxies were in his way. “Get…” As he began to pick up speed he unknowingly pulled his fist back. “...out…” As he clenched his fist tighter his hair began to flicker red and red electricity began to violently spark around his fists. “...of...my…” As the gigantic Proxie swung it's huge fit towards the young boy, Metal sidestepped and threw his fist forward. “...WAY!!!” He was suddenly on the other end of the horde in a flash of light. The street behind him erupted in a huge blast of red electricity that destroyed even the buildings around the now destroyed Proxies. Metal himself stood with his fist forward, sparking with red energy as did his hair and eyes. He stood breathing heavily, the area around him turning red as well. He looked down at his hands and to the destruction he had caused. “So...the Apocalypse Magic is still in me...but it feels more…” He opened his hands and the energy seemed to calm, it's sparks becoming less erratic. “...natural and controlled.” Sensing a nearby disturbance he looked down and saw a small stream of Apocalypse Magic and a few tendrils of the dark energy wrestling against each other, the Apocalypse Magic slowly gaining the upper hand as it spread itself into the darkness. “That could come in handy here…” Having been distracted too long, Metal slapped himself in the face and sped into the large castle through the huge, broken doors. Now having less space to run around, he reduced his speed to a fast jog as he journeyed through the abandoned castle. “I wonder how Luna and Dash are holding up right now, I'm sure they're worried as hell.” He spoke to himself, remembering the mares he had fallen for to try and brighten his mood. “Heh, Dash is probably pacing impatiently demanding to join the fight while Luna is sitting acting calm but inside she's just like Dash is on the outside. I'm going to have to make it up to them after this...if I survive. I probably won't.” He said nonchalantly. “Huh...I said that too readily, I guess with all the times I've come close to death I've lost all fear of DEATH himself.” “Oh really now?” The grim reaper asked as he began to phase in through one of the walls. “Fuck off!” “Heh, not for long.” DEATH faded back out of existence as a bolt of Apocalypse Magic was thrown at him. “God!” Metal shook his head before readjusting his eyepatch. “The nerve of some people.” “This coming from the one that has broken into someone else's property.” Metal came to a complete stop as he heard the familiar voice, the voice of Lisa's mad modes. “Hello there my Metal Prince, so nice of you to join me!” A tendril wrapped around him and pulled him into the darkness. “Oh no you don't!” Metal growled before bursting out of the tendril and jumping back into the light. “None of that shit! Show yourself Slenderwoman!” He heard giggling and footsteps coming from the darkness. “My my, a little demanding and fierce are we? I like that in a man.” ‘Oh my fucking God this is wrong on so many levels.’ Metal thought as he stood unfazed by the words of his target. “I'm going to give you one chance Slenderwoman. Let Lisa have her body back willingly, or I'm going to beat the living shot out of you until you do.” {Metal’s POV} As the crazed woman in control walked into the light, she giggled and pointed one of her tendrils at me while licking her lips. “Heh, I never thought I'd see a descendant of Apocalypse offer a peaceful solution to a beast such as I.” “What're you talking about?” “Oh right, little Cosmo hasn't told you of your heritage has she? Oh well, if you somehow manage to survive this without becoming my new husband then you'll be able to ask her yourself.” She smirked before shooting a pillar of darkness my way, which I knocked to the side with a backhand. “Alright then, force it is.” I leaped at her in an attempt to punch. However, I simply passed through. “What the?” “Heh heh heh. Silly Metal, in this world, I am a goddess. No matter what you do, I can’t be defeated here.” “Hmph, it’s thinking like that that’ll get you killed.” “Heh heh heh! You wouldn’t dare kill me!” Slender Woman spread her arms wide as tendrils shot out of her back. I dodged them and threw back an energy blast, which she backhanded. “And why wouldn’t I?” “Try it, SEE WHAT HAPPENS!” Two massive orbs of darkness formed at her sides. She threw them right at me, and I barely dodged. I ran at her full speed and threw a punch, but she caught my arm with a tendril. She lifted me up, then slammed me into the ground. Slender Woman then tossed me tossed me into the castle. I broke through the wall and landed in the throne room. The hall was empty and lifeless. The only thing in there was… “Lisa!” She was chained up in an orb that rested above the throne. There were chains on her arms, legs, and body. There were angled lines all over her body, sort of reminding me of something from Twilight Princess. “Don’t bother, she can’t hear you.” I turned to see Slender Woman walking in. “What did you do to her?” “Nothing. Her own sorrow is what’s made her like this. And as long as it does, I get to keep control.” “Monster, give my sister her body back!” I leaped at her but she dodged. “Give it back? This body was mine to begin with! If anything, I’ve just reclaimed what was mine!” She snapped her fingers and a couple Proxies appeared. They ran at me and lunged. I however formed a couple lunar blades in my hands and slashed through them.  I then charged at Slender Woman, but again I phased through her. “Ugh, this is getting boring. I suppose I’ll just finish this.” She snapped her fingers again and everything went black. Then, I heard the crack of lightning, and everything went white. When the light cleared up and I could see again, it looked like I was in the middle of some sort of storm. It was pouring rain and lightning flashed everywhere. There were floating stone platforms all over, making some kind of battle arena. “Tell me something Metal.” Slender woman’s voice seemed to be coming from everywhere at once. “Are you ready to succumb to the darkness?” “A bit too late to ask that question.” I could see a black figure forming in the clouds. It emerged out of the storm wall and came into view. It was a giant, Slender Woman. “What the hell?” She lifted up a massive hand and swung at me. I jumped onto another platform before the hand could hit me. The tendrils on her back flew out and attacked, many of which I just barely dodged. However, one nicked me in the back, causing me to fall onto another platform right on my face. I flipped over on my back in an attempt to recover, only to see another tendril descending right on top of me. I couldn’t do anything but watch as it quickly approached, ready to hit me with a strike that could end me. I closed my eyes and braced myself. But nothing came. I waited a few seconds before opening my eyes. What I saw...didn't shock me in the slightest. “Giving up already? That’s certainly unlike you Metal.” It was a blue robotic hedgehog. “I expected more.” When he looked at me, I could tell the personality and expression were a bit different, but it was still the same basic person. “Took you long enough.” Gale just turned to Slenderwoman. “Why aren't you fighting like you normally do? This is an opponent that would require a form.” “I was holding back because I didn't want to damage Lisa's mind.” He helped me up and we stood side by side, staring down the monster before us as she extended a hand. “What was your plan to kill her exactly?” He asked as he blasted the giant hand away. “You know I'm not dumb enough to realise that I can't kill her, as much as I really what to. I know what will happen.” I answered while clenching my fists to build up the Apocalypse Magic I had in me. “How did you come across that answer?” “You haven't been paying attention to me lately have you? All those plans to kill all of you if necessary? I did my research man, I'm not an idiot. Now can we stop talking and take this bitch down? I'm getting really tired of this story arc.” He just looked at me strangely before shaking his head. “That Apocalypse Magic must have damaged you considerably..” “We were all messed up before we got to Equestria. And the magic hasn't affected my personality that much. It feels…” I held out my hands and the electricity swept over my body. “...natural.” “Hmm, seems as though you have adapted to it.” “Hey, how come you sound different?” “I am only a soul. Without a mind, I have less of a connection with my emotions.” “Ah, I see.” “So, are you ready to face her?” I looked at the Slender Woman before nodding. “Let’s do this!”