Heroism

by The_Last_Centurion

Doombringers

This story is a fan-fiction of MLP:FiM. I don't own any of it. It belongs to Hasbro, etc, etc.
Don't sue. Seriously. That would be so uncouth.

Doombringers

“Doom! Doom is here!” the messenger repeated in a high shrill voice as two heavily armored stallions walked into the room behind him. One wore a smirk caused only by power and cockiness and the other was a mask of indifference.

“Hardly,” snorted the smirking stallion, a massive creature with a brilliant orange coat and two toned mane like my own, only it was red and grey. His violet eyes were what stunned me though, as they carried so much hatred within them. He wore a suit of rusted steel armor, stained with the blood of old foes and the rust of a million battles.

His companion wore black steel that matched his coat and night-black mane. I looked into his eyes and not only saw my own, as his were the same ruby red, but also saw thing that made me shudder and also hold my breath.

“I am not Doom, nor is my compatriot here.” The stallion said as he pointed to himself and his friend, who seemed to be made of shadows as they walked side by side between our fight and up to the Chairpony of the Council.

“However,” he continued with an intense anger in his eyes, “that doesn’t mean that you’re off scott-free. I am Destruction, one of the Generals of Doom’s army. The night-daemon beside me is Fear, another one of Doom’s Generals.” He said with a haughty smirk before flourishing to all those watching.

“We have come here because we know of your prophecy.” He said, his voice increasing in volume. “So where is your Hero? Where is the pony that will stop Doom? Because Doom will befall Oattara, make no mistake. The only thing you can do is surrender before we have to slaughter you all.”

“Or have our Hero stop you.” Glaive Moringlight said, glaring at the General with maliciousness. I had to give it to the pony, he had bits. But I wasn’t stupid. I slunk off to the side of the arena and clambered up into the stands as the two had an eloquent battle of words and wits, I’m sure. I basically just found Siren, gave her a kiss, and sat down next to her as everypony’s attention was on the arena.

“So this is your chosen Hero?” Destruction laughed at Morninglight and the Chairpony.

“Yes, and I will defeat you here. Then your friend. Then Doom himself.” The younger stallion barked.

Destruction boomed with laughter. “You won’t beat me, nor would you ever be able to beat Fear. Doom would have you spitted and feasted upon in instants. But if this is the best of Oattara, then ready him for his death.”

Fear and Destruction walked to one end of the arena. Destruction pulled his massive war hammer from his back and hefted it around as if it weighed nothing. Fear stood by first staring at Morninglight and then at me for some reason, before the Gauntlet was brought out.

The Chairpony must have said something about bringing it out, because as the gauntlet was brought to Morninglight, a silence rushed over all those in the chamber. From where I saw it, it didn’t look like much, other than a simple gauntlet made of dry, river clay. Yet, the light of the mixed jewel on it shone like the desert sun.

The gauntlet seemed ill-fitting, but Morninglight put it on his left hoof anyway, donned a steel helmet that looked like the sun, and approached the angry General with his long sword in between his teeth.

“Ready, Hero?” the General asked.

“Let us begin.” Morninglight replied.

Destruction shouted so loudly that I thought the Central Citadel would fall to pieces, but that didn’t dissuade Morninglight. He dove to the side as the war hammer came crashing down where he was standing mere seconds before. Morninglight stabbed at his opponent’s side, but the heavy, rusty steel did its job and Morninglight’s blade bounced away. Morninglight was thrown backwards as a heavy kick from Destruction hit him in the center of his chest, denting his steel armor. Barely parrying the war hammer with his blade, Morninglight sliced at Destruction’s joints with a Hero’s fury. A cheer went up from the crowd of the elite as we could see a line of blood come away from Destruction on Morninglight’s sword.

“Ha!” Destruction laughed as he looked at the shallow cut that lined the inside of his leg’s joint. “So you are able to fight, eh? This will be FUN!” Destruction screamed, his eyes getting wider and seemingly more electric. He laughed as he charged and Morninglight’s blade peppered his head, neck, and exposed flesh with shallow cuts. With each cut, Destruction seemed to become more and livelier, until finally his war hammer was a blaze of death.

Finally, a sickening crunch and a shriek from the crowd told me the worst had come true. Morninglight flew away from Destruction and hit the wall beneath the Chairpony’s seat with another crunch. The whole left side of his armor was dented inward, so much so that the armor had torn and it could be seen digging into his flesh as blood seeped around the wound. Morninglight sat up with difficulty and coughed up a lot of blood as Destruction swaggered over to his prey, the predatory grin on his face all that was needed to say what would happen next.

“Any last words, Hero?” the General asked as he stood over Morninglight.

Morninglight rose his left hoof, the one that wore the Hero’s Gauntlet and he stared solidly into Destruction’s eyes. “Doom will die.” He said, scrunching up his face and yelling, the gem in the gauntlet shining brightly as he did so.

Everypony gasped, a mix of surprise and hope as the Hero’s Gauntlet gave Morninglight the power of the ancients and killed Destruction.

Not really.

The gasps of hope turned to silence as nothing happened and Morninglight looked at the gauntlet with fear and despair. “Why?” he asked as we all saw the fear on his face multiply while he looked at the gauntlet.

“Come on!” he shrieked, shrill and cowardly, shaking the gauntlet and his left hoof, trying to make something happen. Instead, the gauntlet’s lighted jewel went out and Morninglight started to freak out.

Until he saw Destruction standing above him with his war hammer and an evil smile.

“Buck.” Morninglight said as he wet himself.

The hammer came down and smashed into Morninglight’s skull, making a spray of bloody and meaty pulp that coated the face of the Chairpony above the dead Hero and the victorious villain.

“Is that all Oattara’s magnificent Hero had?” Destruction said as he turned to the crowd, his face a daemon’s mask of vicious victory and gore.

“No.” Siren said quietly. She started to stand and my soul chilled with horror as I knew what she was going to do. I had to act, and act quickly.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” I laughed loudly, making Siren look at me and stay where she was sitting, along with the rest of the room. “DID YOU SEE HIS FACE? AND THEN HOW HE DIED? IT WAS ALL LIKE ‘PBTHHHHH’! HAHAHAHAHAHA!” I laughed.

Soon another’s laughter joined my own. It was none other than Destruction.

“It was quite amusing.” Destruction agreed. “But why do you laugh? Were you not comrades?”

“Me? Oh no. I am no hero.” I told him truthfully. “But, I’m not stupid like them.”

“What do you mean?” Destruction asked, his smile fading.

“Well first off, I wouldn’t die. Nor would you be alive.” I replied. “Even more so, you’d be the one pissing yourself as you died.”

“Do you wish to put any truth to your words, scum?” Destruction asked me with an angry snarl.

“Everypony seems to know my name, don’t they?” I asked the ponies around me. “Oh well, I guess this scum will have to do the Hero’s job yet again.”

I started to clamber down the steps before Siren could grab me and I jumped into the arena. My heart was hammering at a million miles an hour, but I calmly walked over to the fallen body of Morninglight. I tore a few strips of leather binding from his blood-soaked armor and tied the dagger he had thrown at me to my right leg. I flexed the limb and cut the blade through the air in an eight as I did before any of the knife fights in the alleys. Destruction just looked on with a bemused smile.

“What foolishness is this?” he asked me. “You will kill ME with naught but a dagger? BAH! Your death will be even more shameful than his.” He said with a point of his war hammer to the body of Morninglight.

I tapped my chin. “I guess you’re right. I think I should have something more.” I said, looking over his body as my mind raced. There was no way Morninglight’s armor would fit me. Even if it did, it was broken and it would weigh me down and make me move like a fool. But a little protection would have been better than nothing.

No.

I shook my head as I thought I heard something and decided against using any armor whatsoever. I was an alley-cat and like an alley-cat would fight. However, the Hero’s Gauntlet did look quite nice on the corpse’s leg and my inner thief kicked in. I deftly swiped it from the dead body of Morninglight and put it on my own left hoof. It felt strange, like I put a clay pot on my hoof, but I could feel a magical warmth coming from it, like the lamps the Magi sold in the Street of Spells. If I was going to go out, I might as well embrace my nature as I did.

I returned the vicious smile that Destruction gave me and tensed up.

“Are you ready to die?” he asked me.

“Hell no. Are you?” I asked back and he charged at me with a fearsome shout.

I freaked out and ran away from him quickly, barely missing a sweep of the war hammer as it sailed over my head in a killing blow. He came at me again, aiming the war hammer in a destructive downward strike, the same that killed Morninglight, and again, I almost died. I dove to the right, hit a wall, and rebounded as the wall exploded around me from a massive blow from the war hammer. I panted and chomped down on my fear as Destruction struggled to pull the hammer from the wall. I saw this as my chance and ran at his unprotected back, my dagger raised.

A quick and heavy buck sent me sailing through the air and into the wall on the opposite end of the arena. “Buck” I said as I rose and the room spun. “Double Buck” I said as I saw three Destructions coming at me with a massive war hammer and an angry look. I dodged to the left, rolled back, dodged right, and jumped away from his swings, making him angrier and angrier with each miss. Luckily, I had no heavy armor to hinder me, so as his breathing started to become labored, I was fine. Well, despite the hit I had taken earlier, but the room stopped spinning so I was fine.

Until he caught me again with a hoof strike. He managed to get his war hammer stuck in the wall yet again, so I tried the same trick, only from below him. I rolled under his legs and gave him a slice on his snout, rolling away again as he came down in a double-hoofed strike. His rage was palpable as he charged at me, leaving his war hammer behind him and coming at me unarmed. For a moment, I thought I had the upperhoof, being armed and all. But then he was on me and I was slashing as furiously as I could. Out of the chaos, my right leg was caught in a grip that almost tore it free and I was hefted into the air.

Destruction snarled as he broke my right leg and led me by it. Laughing and growling as he pummeled my body over and over. At first the pain made me shriek, but soon I didn’t feel it and I knew that I was going to die. I didn’t try to fight it, nor did I really want to. I was too scared to and I knew that if I died here, I would have to deal with this fear any more.

But two things made me fight back. My hearing came back from the numbness I felt and suddenly pain exploded across my body as Destruction hit me once more and then stopped. I heard Siren’s voice, but not what she said.

Destruction laughed and snarled his response to her. “After I kill this hero here, you’ll be next.”

That sent me over the edge and I felt a pain that I never knew before. Rage, anger, and pain mixed inside of me and I screamed at Destruction, making him step back from shock.

“I AM NOT A HERO!” I yelled, my pain filled body rising from the sand, the anger filling me, the pain filling my left leg as the rest of it slowly faded away. I looked down at my left leg and saw that the Gauntlet’s gem had once again lit, but this time the light was shimmering. Even stranger, the clay now was thriving with veins that pulsed with power and magic. Around the gauntlet and my body, sand was creeping into every wound I had and a dark light poured from my cutie mark, the seven pointed star.

I looked away from myself and saw Destruction running away from me in fear, grabbing his war hammer and charging at me with all his fear, anger, and strength. His hammer came sailing down towards me, ready to crush, ready to kill, thirsty to destroy Siren after me. I would not let that happen.

The hammer came down and I rose my leg.

The hammer seemed to melt around the Gauntlet and the bending of it ripped it from Destruction’s mouth. His weapon was gone.

“I yield! I yield!” he said, his eyes wide with shock and fear.

“I don’t.” I said as I moved faster than a dust devil and climbed up his back. My dagger gave his frowning face a happy smile of red right below his chin. A smile that would lead him into eternity.

The bloody sand at my hooves made me pant and realize how strange I felt right now. I was tired, so tired, but I also felt this power coursing through me from the Gauntlet. It was like I could fight a million more Destructions, but there was no way I would want to.

I turned to look at Fear. His ruby red eyes were locked onto mine and we shared some silent word. I would kill him if he came at me. He knew this, but his eyes told me he was not afraid of death. Yet, he closed his eyes, turned, and walked out of the Chamber in silence. I stayed in the sand and sat down panting.

“Hey Chairpony.”

“Yes?” he answered, clearly scared by me and the power I held.

“I was thinking a June wedding. Nice and fun though. Not too much fancy shit.” I said tiredly as I laid down on my back.

Siren’s voice rose a cheer and soon the whole Chamber was celebrating while I closed my eyes and slept. The sand was warm, relaxing, and strangely comforting.

Comments

[Herrpface]

hen I saw the description, I thought it was "A sea urchin becomes an anti hero."

[The_Last_Centurion]

You never heard of the Spiny Knight, the hero that the Great Barrier Reef deserves? He's not a hero. He's a silent mollusk, a quiet water-breather, a dark ball of spikes.

[Max Caulfield]

3728208

As your first favorite and like. It is my given duty to express how awesome I think your story is..

I shall return and edit this comment with a meme to commemerate you.

(Edit) Here ya go! diylol.com/meme-generator/baby-courage-wolf/memes/ayla-jetzt-kauf-mich-schon-endlich

[The_Last_Centurion]

3728391
Thank you good sir.
As per your kindness, here is one free internet cupcake.
us.cdn3.123rf.com/168nwm/iconspro/iconspro1004/iconspro100400050/6798445-cupcake-on-golden-internet-button-original-illustration.jpg

[Max Caulfield]

3728566

GHASP!

The internet cupcake! It is the second highest compliement, next to the cookie!

I-I feel so honored...

Thank you!