A Better Place, A Better Time

by Mental_Zero

...And Straight Into the Pits of Tartarus

We were about as isolated as we could get, but it still felt like we were being constantly watched on our march to the Castle of the Two Sisters. I got a couple of things ready for the confrontation on the way,

"You sure you'll be able to handle Celestia?"

Luna shook her head, "Tis not our sister that we must worry about, tis the Nightmare that will be the problem. With luck, it will have had less experience with fire magic than with darkness."

I nodded slightly, "If we're lucky, its arrogance will be its downfall."

Rainbow Dash chimed in, "It's also seven to one, and we have a real good reason to beat it."

There was a low murmur of agreement through the group. There was a deep sense of foreboding when we finally arrived at the castle, going past what we knew about how unpleasant things were about to be. The ponies stood back as I armored up and charged the door as quickly as I could get going, punching a decent-sized hole through it. I dusted myself off and looked around while they came in after me. From what I could tell, calling the Castle old would be like calling the sun lukewarm. Everything about it seemed eternal, even in its state of disrepair. I suppose when two goddesses live in a building for an extended period of time, some of their immortality soaks into the walls. There didn't seem to be any immediate pitfalls or evil minions to slow us down, which hardly did anything to help make the place seem less threatening. The ponies certainly appeared to reflect my sentiments as they entered the castle, their expressions darkening. I turned towards the hallway least choked with rubble,

"Come on, we're not saving the world standing around like this." They nodded and began to follow me. I reached out with my senses as we searched the castle, listening for any sign of Evil or Nightmare Celestia, but came up with a whole lot of nothing. A few minutes later my conclusion was proven wrong, hearing a faint rustling in the air, followed by a quiet whimper from Fluttershy. I stopped dead and whirled around, only to be greeted by the sight of Evil

holding Fluttershy up by her mane with a blade to her throat,

"Well, hello there, Ryan, so excellent to finally see you again."

The others whipped around as soon as they heard his voice, only to stop dead when they saw the predicament Fluttershy was in. Rainbow Dash stomped her hoof and bared her teeth at him,

"Leave her alone!"

He grinned at her psychotically, "Rainbow Chromata Dashington, born and raised in Cloudsdale, orphaned at a young age, bullied for quite some time when you were younger. Took up protecting this young mare to help with your own self-confidence issues, evolving into a life long friendship and, judging by the look in your eyes, perhaps more than that."

She looked at him like she was just slapped across the face, "How do you know all that?"

He gave her a big, toothy grin, "It is my job to know, young lady. Besides, it's much easier to play with your food if you know more about it." She took a step towards him, he pulled Fluttershy back, the blade biting into her neck, "Ah ah ah, not so fast, you're not going to get her back that easily. If you want her back, we're going to do a little trade."

Twilight glared at him, "What do you want?"

He snapped to look at her, "My price, Twilight Sparkle, is your very good friend, Ryan."

I stepped up before any of them could speak,

"Deal."

He let out a low chuckle and looked at me, "Oh Ryan, being the white knight as always, despite how much blood stains your armor. You always were an overly sentimental fool."

I narrowed my eyes at him, "You stated your price, now let her go."

He faked a hurt expression, "Oh, but you made it so easy, there was no work for the reward. Hmm, maybe I'll just keep her anyway."

I could feel my claws starting to form, he pulled the blade tighter against her throat, "I'd suggest against that."

I could hear Fail and Safe hammering away at keyboards,

"Come on, there has to be something that we're not thinking of here. He could be stalling for Celestia, but there are no readings for magic outside of background noise."

That's when I saw a small thread of tissue, going from Evil's wrist into the back of Fluttershy's neck. He was infecting her with the virus. I rushed forward, hitting him like a comet, he seemed to have seen it coming. He shoved Fluttershy back towards the group before I hit him, laughing psychotically as he flew from the impact. I snapped back at the others, "Get Fluttershy out of here, now!"

She had collapsed to the floor, Twilight looked at me, "But we need her to defeat the Night-"

I cut her off, "Now! She's infected, I'll figure something out, but if she stays here, you all die."

I ran off in Evil's direction before they could respond.

He had blasted a large hole in the walls of the castle after I hit him, he was poised out in what looked like the remains of the old castle gardens, a gaping grin plastered across his face. I landed across from him, he didn't seem intimidated,

"You must admit, that was a rather clever trick."

I let out a low growl, "She was an innocent, she didn't need to suffer that fate."

He cocked an eyebrow at me, "Oh? Are you saying you didn't do the same thing to the people of Chicago one year ago?" I paused for a moment, counting the months back to when that happened, "That's right, you were reborn one year ago today, given the powers of a god, yet you squandered them destroying the very beings you helped create. If you think about it, every one of the Infected were your children, in a way, and you slaughtered them. So bravo on your fathering skills, I can only hope that the lovely Twilight would have been a better mother."

I felt volcanic fury bubble up inside of me, "I swear on everything that is holy, if you touch her, I'll-"

He looked at me, "You'll what? Kill me? Look how good of a job you did the first time. Besides, that's assuming you're even alive when I do so, anyway. In fact, maybe I'll extract Rage from your mind when I kill you and let him have her. She's already seen his face, if I recall correctly, so it'll be a familiar sight, at least."

Fail snapped at me, "Stay focused, Boss, he's trying to get you riled up, don't let him. Why is he still talking so much, it's not like hi-...boss, we've got movement, something real big."

I glanced around the area, Evil let out another chuckle, "Oh, so you finally noticed him? Your perception seems to be failing you, Ryan. Well, let's see if your combat abilities are still up to snuff."

With that, he vanished, leaving me alone in the garden. I looked around frantically until I felt a low, bone-rattling thud rumble through the earth. Then there was another, and another, and another, until I saw it break the treeline around the Castle, "Ho-lee fuck..." Evil never intended to fight me, he just wanted to lure me out so he could feed me to his new pet. He had infected freaking Cerberus.

Comments

[the blazing tiger]

OH SH*T FU**ING INFECTED CERBERUS!? WHY?!

[RC-0117]

We are all going to die thank god I'm in space and not there

[Lovecraftia]

5690856
Nun, ich schätze, das ist dein Problem, dass Cerberus die Scheiße aus dir schlagen muss ... aber was ist mit Corrupt Celestia? Das ist eine ganz andere Geschichte.

[RC-0117]

8905118
Ich bezweifle, dass Celestia mich oder Cerberus bekommt, aber wenn sie das tun, würde ich ihnen zu ihrer harten Arbeit gratulieren.

[Archon Priestmane]

5339262
Seeing how Cerberus looks...and he's infected with the Virus...I listened to Gears of War 2's main theme while reading. Went together pretty good.