Diablo

by StoneWare13

Chapter 7: good friend, bad dreams

Author's Note:

Here is a new chapter for you all. This chapter is a key turning point of the story, I know many of you will have questions but I will answer them is chapters to come

from tomorrow I will be on holiday for 2 weeks during this time I will be doing the next chapter... Whoop

Huge thanks and hoof bump /) to my lovely friend and editor spirit guide for editing.

Enjoy
StoneWare13
X

Applejack’s eyes fluttered when the glare of the blazing sun hit her eyes. She rose from her bed with the smile she carried each and every morning. She finished up her morning routine and trotted down the stairs.

Each wooden step seemed to have grown more as the mare traveled almost vertically down the twisted stairs. Applejack's heart quickened its pace and when she reached the ground floor, she found a dark blackness filing her vision... something wasn't right!

A distant mumbling attracted the golden mare through the hall. AJ hesitated with each step. "Granny? Big Mac?" she called out, praying for a response "Apple Bloom?"

Her heart raced, each powerful beat panicking the earth pony further. Everything was wrong! The walls reached high above the mare, the door hung crookedly and was full of black holes. Applejack never felt so scared. "WHERE ARE Y’ALL!?"

"In here, sis," Big Macintosh’s voice mumbled from the only doorway that hadn’t been cursed with the eerie eternal darkness. Applejack panic reduced, knowing her family would be as scared as she was. This whole morning wasn’t natural.

Stepping into the living room, Applejack spotted her family. They looked... wasted. Their coats were all a darker shade and they looked upset. Nervously, AJ walked closer. She noticed that her three family members were sitting in a circle and in the middle of the circle was—

"Diablo?"

The pegasus sat there like a statue, showing no signs of hearing the mare. Diablo just gazed at the floorboard beneath his feet. Applejack was really confused now. "Okay. What in the hay is going on?"

"Why don't you tell us, Applejack?" Big Macintosh’s tone was blunt. As Applejack looked up at her brother, his face twisted into one of anger. AJ’s eyes shot from Big Mac to Apple Bloom and her granny. They wore the same angered expressions.

Applejack gulped, looking between her friend and family members. "Ah don't understand…"

Her younger sister looked up at her with a small tear in her eye. "Ah though…. Ah thought you loved us, Applejack."

"Of course Ah do," Applejack reassured the filly. "Ah always loved ya, an’ I always will."

Granny Smith stepped forward, pushing Apple Bloom behind her almost defensively. This action confused and intimidated Applejack. "Y’know, being the Element of Honesty an’ all, we’d have expected ya to have told us!"

"Ah still don't understand..."

"HE'S A SHADOWBOLT!!!" Big Macintosh growled at her. Applejack stood still in shock. Her mind struggled to process the information her brother had just divulged and combine it with her family’s behavior, but it made no sense. This wasn’t like them!

"Please Mac, you gotta understand. I was going to tell you!" the mare attempted to explain while she strained to come up with some kind of explanation for her carelessness.

Big Macintosh continued to glare down at her. "Get out."

"What?" Applejack mumbled.

"Both of you!"

Diablo suddenly got up and walked over, ignoring Applejack completely; he looked like he didn’t care about the situation. AJ looked back and forth between the ponies. Her heart raced with the pain of the suddenly loveless family she had always trusted.

"GET OUT!" Big Macintosh, flanked by Apple Bloom and Granny, pushed the victimized ponies back toward the now black hole of a doorway. "Ah don't want no lying’ mare—" The three ponies pushed and pushed, till Applejack and Diablo were balancing in the door way, only one step from falling into the abyss "—or villains in my family! NOW GET OUT!"

With one last violent shove, Applejack felt herself leave the once-comforting living room and fall into the darkness. Falling and falling…

NOOOOOOOO

Applejack bolted up from the mattress, breathing rough, pulse sky high and eyes wide in shock. She could feel every bead of sweat roll down her face. She let her head fall into the cold touch of her hooves, slowly sobbing.

Three day. Three days since the ShadowBolt stallion started staying in her home! Three days since the nightmares had begun, each day the same mind-shocking routine, each day leaving the poor mare in tears. "What’s wrong with me?" Applejack mumbled into her tear-stained hooves.

Her quiet mumbles began to fade as a new noise echoed from down the hall. Applejack got out of bed and carefully made her way towards the door. A mumbling guided her to the guest bedroom where a friend slept.

"Diablo?"
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Unannounced, from the crack in the spare room door, a pair of emerald eyes watched the event unfold, despite only being able to see the stallion sitting up in the bed. A faint blue haze spread like wildfire across the walls and floor, distinguishing his figure from the darkness of night.

"Why are you doing this to her?" Diablo demanded, seeing the pegasus mare form in front of his eyes. Despite not being effected by the sleepless nights that Applejack was suffering from, his eyes still stung from their dryness.

The mare smiled sarcastically at him. "You’re not stupid, Diablo. We both know why I’m doing this."

The intruder from the door could hear every word with clarity. Diablo kept a calm straight face. "I may have a few ideas, but I need to hear it from you." He had been planning this conversation since the nightmares had begun. And he wanted answers.

The mare cackled maniacally. "You’re just like your mother. Just a little...."

"Answer my question," Diablo insisted, which clearly annoyed the pegasus.

"Fine!" she hissed. "I am doing this for you and my team." She paused, allowing the pair to silently challenge each other to speak first.

Diablo smiled and his chuckling pervaded the air. "I knew it." His voice was strong and powerful, like the way he felt before hitting the land he was now grounded upon.

"Then you will know the nightmares will stop only if you come home." The mare gave Diablo a caring smile. It knocked him speechless. Here, after many painful years without so much as a compliment, she was smiling at him. A real smile, not a smirk of wickedness.

She did away with the smile almost immediately, once again donning a disappointed frown. "I won't ask you again, Diablo." She sounded more in pain than controlling. Diablo didn't know how to respond to strained behavior from such a dominating character.

"I’m not going with you," Diablo said rather hesitantly.

The mare’s face went blank. No emotion was shown, not happiness nor anger. "She is my friend,” Diablo continued sternly, “and I know that even if I come with you, she will still be in danger."

"Why would you say that?” the mare exclaimed in shock. “Of course she will be safe." She appeared confused but beneath that false show of emotion, in her eyes there was a spark of terror. And Diablo knew why.

The stallion glared. "No! Sooner or later, you will go after her, wont you?!" He waited for a response, but none came. "You will go after the Element bearers."

Her confusion turned to rage as anger began to bubble once again inside the pegasus mare.
Diablo pushed further. "She's like us, isn't she."

The mare gave a light, halfhearted chuckle "I don't know what you mean, Diablo." Her carefree words were merely a cover-up. Truly, she was panicked and Diablo could almost feel her heart racing inside her chest.

"I know what she is,” Diablo announced. "Yes, she is an Element of Harmony, but she is also like you and me." and pushed "I can see them and don't pretend you can't."

"How?" She was shocked and Diablo smiled, feeling strength bubble up inside of him. "You power is still weak!" she practically yelled, attempting not only to prove him wrong but to convince herself that Diablo was wrong.

"Yes, that’s true,” Diablo agreed. “But I am my mother’s son, after all." The stallion’s smile with almost wicked.

Shaking all over, the blue mare whipped her head back and forth, her eyes widened in shock. She was now speechless. Diablo had changed, grown, become stronger, and that scared her. She closed her eyes, struggling for a response. "This isn't over, Diablo", she whispered fiercely.

With that said, she vanished out the open window, leaving the grinning stallion alone with only the watchful eyes of the apple farmer as his unknown company. Diablo had won this battle.

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BANG!

The large wooden doors swung open with the force of herd of minotaur as a petite pegasus stormed into the hall, her eyes blazing with fury.

"Captain !" A gray stallion stood at attention as his commanding officer stormed over to him. She stopped inches from his face with a glare as powerful as King Sombra’s. "Will he be returning?" he asked in a flat tone, despite the intimidating face filling his vision.

"Lieutenant Charger." The mare looked away in defeat, an action Charger had never seen before. He knew then that the runaway colt would not return and he felt sorry for his captain. This was clearly hard on her.

"Yes, ma'am?" The stallion held his stance, not wanting to push or anger the saddened mare, thus avoiding any emotional outbursts.

"Gather the flight team," she commanded, mentally shaking away the pain in her chest.

"Yes, ma’am!" Charger gave a simple nod and left the hall.

The mare trotted up to the closest window, looking down upon the land below as the ponies of Equestria slept on. "You have brought this upon yourself, Diablo." She closed her eyes, remembering the years she had taught and trained him. "After all this time, this is how you repay me….”

“I promise you, this is only the beginning."

Comments

[KarmaDash]

OMG what's happening *freaks out*

[SageBrony07]

Nice chapter. It does pose more questions than answers. Good luck with the next part.

[StoneWare13]

I have about 10 qustions that need to be answered some will be answered on the next chapter, but Iam glad you liking the story most the chapters have been planned and I can't wait to get them done

[StoneWare13]

Iam a little disappointed with yet another dislike on this story not sure if Its story or something else. I would like to know the reason for the dislikes

[harts fire]

ok first I will say I find this story to be a really good read.
the editing is really good the base story line is put together good.

now the thing that got me to look at this story is the name Diablo for those of you who do not know Diablo is a MMORPG game that I have played for more then 20 years and still play the newer version to this day.
good luck with your story StoneWare13 I think you have a good story line going here and will most defiantly be watching for more of Diablo.

Harts Fire

[DiamondTheHedgehog556]

6240954 Oh, don't worry. Not everybody's gonna like your stuff. You really shouldn't worry until there are more dislikes than likes.