As Athens began the long task of rebuilding the city, Pinkie and Calliope tended to Kratos' injuries. With the Blades of Chaos shattered, Kratos no longer had much of the power he had once wielded. Though the magic he had acquired was still his to command, without the Blades he lacked his normal channel for the magic. However, he did not feel he actually needed the magic for a while. After all, he had completed his last task for the Gods of Olympus.
On the return to their ship, Kratos had approached the statue at the helm. "Athena!" he spoke firmly. "I have completed the task set before me."
"Indeed, Kratos," Athena replied. "Though we mourn the death of our brother, the Gods are indebted to you. As per our promise to you, your life shall be greatly improved."
"Then my nightmares will end?" Kratos asked.
"Your past shall no longer be a weight upon your soul," Athena replied. "However, the memories themselves - the source of your nightmares - shall remain. That is something no mortal or god can - or should - interfere with."
Kratos lowered his head. At first he felt rage spark inside him at this seeming betrayal. Why would the Gods not cleanse him of his nightmares? However, before the rage could take hold, he looked into his own soul and questioned it.
What had rage ever given him? His rage had led him to promise himself to Ares, and cost him his family. It had led him to defy Ares, which left him to the tortures of the Furies. And it had not been rage that had freed him from them. It had been his strong will, and Orkos' friendship and aid. And after that, it had not been rage that had guided his footsteps. it had been hope, in the form of Pinkie Pie.
She had become his responsibility, his joy, his hope for freedom from his nightmares and the pain of his past. She had dedicated herself to making him smile again, and somehow the drive to not disappoint her had pushed him far more than any desire for vengeance against Ares. And rage had nearly destroyed Pinkie, briefly turning her into a monster worse than he had ever been.
Rage had destroyed him. Love had saved him. Sighing, he nodded acceptance of Athena's pronouncement, and let go of his rage.
Pinkie Pie had been watching him as he thought this through, and gasped as she saw his thoughts reach their conclusion. "Now I get it!" she said suddenly. "Daddy, you went to the Gods to cleanse the Nightmares cause you thought they were a curse, right? Part of the spell that Oracle did on you binding the ashes to your skin?"
Kratos tilted his head in confusion. "Yes, that's right," he said slowly.
"But they weren't!" Pinkie proclaimed. "If they were, you'd have suffered from them while the Furies were tormenting you, but you said you didn't! And the nightmares would have stayed fresh and new from the moment they began until today, but they haven't! You've mentioned they've been growing less severe over time, especially since Calliope left Hades to come with us!"
Kratos' eyes widened. "You...you're right. But she said-"
"What her curse actually did was make you face what you'd become under Ares manipulations!" Pinkie proclaimed. "Everything became fresh and vivid in your mind in that moment! That's what created the nightmares. Not her curse, but your own mind after witnessing how far you had fallen and all you had done! And that's why the gods can't do anything about it...but you can!"
"Excuse me?" Kratos demanded in shock. "Are you saying I can do what the gods cannot?"
"Yupperooni!" Pinkie stated plainly. "The gods can't mess with the way your mind works without breaking something, because aside from Morpheus they don't actually know how the human mind works! If they did, half those stories of people we've heard about wouldn't have happened. Like that Oedipus fellow, serious mishandling due to just not knowing how people tick there! But the key to purging your nightmares is just what you always thought it was...forgiveness.
"But you didn't get how your mind worked either!" Pinkie continued. "The gods can forgive you, Sis can forgive you, I can forgive you, Mom can forgive you - or not, we haven't actually seen her - and the people you killed can forgive you they'd better...but none of that will do a thing for your nightmares!" She pressed a hoof to his chest. "The only thing that will cleanse them is if you!" She pounded her hoof against his chest. "Forgive!" Another pound. "Yourself!" A final pound.
Kratos stared at his equine daughter as if she had just grown a second head, although that would have been less of a shock than the wisdom she had just professed. "I must...forgive myself?"
"It was our hope that through your journeys with your daughters that you would discover that truth for yourself, Kratos," Athena pointed out. "It seems that in that regard, we overestimated you."
"Well, Daddy was a lot stronger here than here," Pinkie teased, pointing first to Kratos arm before pointing at his head.
"Hey!" Kratos complained as Calliope giggled. Seeing the humor, he managed a chuckle as well.
"There are other matters we must attend to," Zeus said, approaching. He gestured to Pandora's Box. "This, for one. It needs a new hiding place."
"I'll take care of it!" Pinkie said happily. Picking the Box up, she stuffed it into her mane. "Now nobody will ever find it!"
In a land of dreams, a round pink hero stumbled across a strangely decorated chest. Being the innocent that he was, he opened it.
Dark power erupted from the chest, bound to a blue light. Unable to anchor in this world, the power shot between worlds, seeking the world of its origins.
The pink hero glanced up at what had happened. "Hoyo?" he asked in confusion. Seeing nothing bad happening to the world, he dragged the box along behind him and started tossing food into it.
In an ancient land, a King of Demons considered his dispute with the Gods of the upper kingdom. While it was the nature of demons to seek war, he was considering if, perhaps, there was another way.
A blast of immense power ripped through the dimensional boundary. Streams of darkness split off from the blast, embedding themselves in the demon and his sword. Consumed by sudden fury, the Demon King made war on the upper world and its gods, a war that would shape that worlds history. Demise would never rest again.
Other worlds were touched by the dark power as it struggled to return to the world of its origin. In one, the dark power turned a good queen of Earth into a wicked tyrant that declared war on the moon. In another, a dark power anchored itself in a comet that reshaped the Earth with its light, creating a wicked, divergent evolution.
And then the light dragged the last dark power to another world...
Four years in the future and over a decade in the past, Pinkie Pie raced into the Everfree Forest. "Girls!" she called out in fear. "You shouldn't be going in there! I Pinkie Promised your sisters I'd keep you safe!"
Eventually she managed to track down the three fillies she had volunteered to watch over, but just as she found them a beam of blue light shot down from the heavens, a stream of darkness twirling around it. Misery, the last dark power from the box, distorted Pinkie's perceptions as it anchored in wicked seeds buried beneath the forest floor, empowering them to weaken the force that had held them at bay.
As the blue light embedded itself mostly into the necklace around Pinkie's neck - an artifact of great importance to her world - she heard the screams of the fillies. She thought the power had claimed their lives. She blamed herself. She had broken her promise.
The blue light returned to the world of its origin, twisted through space and time, leaving a changed Pinkie Pie in the home of the Furies...to be found by one whose life she would change forever.
Pinkie Pie shivered, feeling as though something of great importance had happened. As she shook, a gold choker fell out of her mane, bracing a blue gem in the shape of the marks on her flank. The gem glowed with immense power still sealed within, though it showed signs of having been tapped frequently recently. "Oh, pretty!" Pinkie said happily, putting the choker on.
Unsure what to think of this, Zeus spoke up. "However, there is a more important detail to be addressed," he explained. "While Ares had to be stopped, his throne on Olympus must not be left empty. Kratos, we promised you your life would be greatly improved. Will you accept your reward? Will you take the place you have earned on Olympus...as the new God of War?"
As the Olympian gate opened for Kratos, he found new blades bound to him, though less painfully than the Blades of Chaos had been. The Blades of Athena glittered gold in the sunlight. Smiling, he rested his hand on Calliope's back and Pinkie's head. "What do you think?" he asked. "Should I?"
"You should!" Pinkie said quickly. "It will let me keep my promise to Calliope! Now go on up, you two! I'll catch up in a jiffy!"
Smiling and nodding, Kratos took Calliope's hands and climbed the steps to his new throne on Olympus.
As soon as he was out of earshot, Pinkie turned to Zeus. "So when are you going to tell him why this all really happened...Grandpa?"
Zeus' eyes popped in surprise. "What...how do you...what?"
Athena rested a hand on his shoulder. "Father, I have watched over this family ever since they entered the service of Olympus...and I believe Kratos has discovered the greatest wisdom for a situation such as this."
"And what wisdom is that?" Zeus asked as the giggling pony bounded her way up the stairs after her father and sister.
Athena smiled. "It's Pinkie Pie. Don't question it."
The box was found by Kirby, and the first world the darkness touched was Hyrule.
5840613
Two internet cookies for you.
Can you name the other two worlds that were touched?
5840620 Nope......
Kirby and Demise were hilarious. I had trouble spotting the other references, though.
5840629
I'll give a hint.
The first is a well known anime.
The second is a not so well known Super Nintendo game.
5840638
.... A queen of the Earth declaring war on the moon.... Did you make a Sailor Moon reference?
5840638 Sailor Moon and Illusion of Gaia?
5840682
One internet cookie for you.
5840694
And one internet cookie for you.
All references named.
oh wow....
Just wow.
And now.
Grandpa? Pinkie Pie... is grandpa to Zues?
WHATHA!>!>!>?!?!?
I am confused now, very confused.
Is it... because of Kronos being an... oh my.
well, this can only end in horror as pinkie leaves these two without getting any from Helios' steeds.
5840745
It's revealed in the later games that Kratos is a son of Zeus.
So, is the end of this story coming soon? I ask because since you made it so that Kratos has let go of his rage and Pinkie is on good terms with many of the gods, the events that led to God of War 2 should not even happen. There is no way Zeus would kill Kratos now; Kratos is starting the process to forgive himself and Zeus would not want to anger Pinkie Pie. Also, will Calliope be getting a flesh and blood body soon?
5840813
There is still Ghost Of Sparta to go through, and the issues behind the issues that need to be addressed as far as God of War 2.
Most of your questions will be addressed in the next chapter, though.
Oh, ye GODS. A stable time loop?! You made a freaking time loop for Pinkie?
This begs the question, though: is the Pinkie that believed herself to have failed the same Pinkie that will (eventually) return to Equestria, and see that her self-imposed suffering in the home of the Furies was pointless? At least, I hope to Celestia it WAS pointless...
Basically, I'm asking if Kratos's daughter will eventually go through the temporal loop again.
5840825
Pinkie doesn't remember why she was punishing herself when she was in the Furies' Temple. And I don't make infinite time loops.
5840830 Okay, good. That would get a little ridiculous after a while.
If you want an example of one of the most mind-bending time loops ever written, look up 'By His Bootstraps'.
Legend of Zelda, Disgaea, and Sailor Moon? I can only wonder if Kirby is a sentient multiverse...
5840925
Not Disgaea, but your others are correct.
And here I'm wondering why does Kirby say Poyo. I didn't even know he could talk. Or make much other sounds actually. Missed all the references like a dork.
You given any thought to those two ideas I gave you in.... One of these stories' comments?
You know, the funny thing is I made that comment before I read Fortresshy (Just finished it today).
5841174
He says "Hoyo", actually.
And that's because in the cartoon "Kirby: Right Back At Ya", 'Hoyo' was the only thing he said, and it's the only time in any media where he's ever spoken.
5841177
Remind me which two ideas?
5841184 Luna being found by MC while he's training (Halo MC). And Celestia popping up in Gears of War or Mass Effect (depends on which one you think would work).
I'll also be following you even if you don't use my ideas.
5841216
Don't know any of those.
5841241 .... Someone that doesn't know Master Chief and Halo. Now I have seen everything.
I only found out about GoW and Mass Effect from a friend. Then I looked up a walkthrough for them.
that last line was brilliant! With pandora's box gone the gods won't be corrupted so Kratos will not have to kill them. Hopefully, Calliope will finally get a body and Pinkie will get a coltfriend, Kratos needs to due his fatherly duties and start scaring would be suiters.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN!?
AND IS ZEUS KRATOS'S FATHER!?
Well, so Pinkie Pie cursed herseft?
5842222
Pinkie Pie was never cursed. She was just convinced she deserved to be. That's why the Furies never touched her.
5841174
5841181
Kirby can't talk because he's a baby.
5842253
She still doomed herseft using a paradox.
5842414
Not a paradox. Stable time loop.
In an ancient land, a King of Demons considered his dispute with the Gods of the upper kingdom. While it was the nature of demons to seek war, he was considering if, perhaps, there was another way.
A blast of immense power ripped through the dimensional boundary. Streams of darkness split off from the blast, embedding themselves in the demon and his sword. Consumed by sudden fury, the Demon King made war on the upper world and its gods, a war that would shape that worlds history. Demise would never rest again.
DAMMIT PINKIE!!! YOU STARTED THE GOLDEN TRIO CYCLE!!!
5842434
Stable time loops are paradoxes you silly filly.
5842434
Illusion of Gaia.
You reference Illusion of F***ING GAIA!
Tatsurou you glorious b*****d, I LOVE YOU!
Aka, absolutely losing his shit.
you Magnificent bastard....
..... KIRBY!!! WHAT HAVE YOU JUST DONE?!?!?!
5845202
quickmeme.com/img/3e/3ef9ce7e166964cf1dcf338c69e0de551150bcd3671218d2a6268dc58eab5677.jpg
wouldn't dream land be one of the worlds since it's kirby
5841181 Kirby has said hi before even in the show but those are the only things he says. Other than a boyo looking at something but that could just be him being a child
(In a land of dreams, a round pink hero stumbled across)
.
.
.
oh shit, Oh Shit, OH SHIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!
That's it Game Over, GAME OVER ALL IS DOOMED!!!
I'm serious even Chuck Norris is screwed.
So yeah everything turned out better than expected.
Kirby
What a nice turnout for the three :D
Hehehe, love it!
KIRBYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Luna had to learn this lesson too. or one quite similar.
Kid Buu?
6898854 Kirby.
Ahem *clears throat*The Negaverse!!!!
6898854 Kirby the Hero of the Stars!
1.bp.blogspot.com/-pAFnQQ7lFBg/TayFVph_WtI/AAAAAAAACaw/h89_K6g5XKw/s1600/kirby_gore.jpg