Catherine: Love is Over?

by _No_One_Remains_

The Cathedral- Brawny Soldier

“C’mon you big brute, it’s time to face tonight’s hell. You have lessons to learn tonight, my pony.”

Night 5, Cathedral

“You coulda warned us before knocking us the fuck out, Astaroth…” Brawny groaned as he lifted himself from the ground.

A familiar voice caused him to leap immediately to his hooves. It scolded, “Who are you talking to, you senile old mule?”

He looked around the dark expanse wildly, praying he wouldn’t find what he was looking for. To his dismay, his eyes found the familiar yellow coat and shiny red mane of a mare he knew all too well. His wife of almost two decades was lying less than a foot away from him, having been awake longer than he had. She had seemingly waited for him to wake up simply so she could scold him for this weird turn of events.

“I’m talking to the guy that brought us here. It’s nice to see you too, Starlight.” The old stallion scoffed in annoyance. Waking up to his wife’s annoyed tone wasn’t helping him cope with the fact that they were together in the nightmare.

The unicorn muttered, “So where the hell are we, Brawny? Is this one of those interactive plays or something?” She looked around to see the seven doors in the distance, each letting off a bit of light.

“I’m afraid not, Starlight. This isn’t a play, this is hell. Tonight’s the Cathedral, Brawny. Considering this is only your second night, you might be in for a rough climb. Especially since you have your old lady with you tonight. Good luck.” The mysterious voice laughed at the ponies.

“Who’re you callin’ old, you creep? I’m barely a day over forty!” The mare waved an angry hoof in the air, not frightened by the disembodied voice.

Brawny slapped the mare’s arm out of the air and sighed, “Look darling, we’ve gotta get going. When we head through that door, we have to go up, got it?”

Starlight sent her husband a smug look and scoffed, “Ha! Up, you say? I think I can handle that. Try not to fall behind, big guy.” She took the initiative in approaching the door and opening it. Its bright light engulfed them and sent them to their tower.

The only thing on Brawny’s mind was how horrible the whole experience was going to be. The simple fact that his wife was an egotistical control freak could only mean trouble in the end. He did stop to notice all the other towers in the distance, three of which with demons climbing up the bottoms. He recognized the demon that was meant to resemble Rain’s marefriend, but the other two were completely foreign to him.

The annoyed mare called to him, “Are you coming or what, idiot?” She was already roughly a dozen steps up the tower.

Brawny scratched his mane in confusion and asked, “Where’s the fire, dear? You shouldn’t run on ahead like that!”

Starlight was about to laugh at him and make a snide comment when a loud roar echoed from the void below them. The shape of a unicorn’s body burst into view as a large chain came crashing into the tower beside Brawny. On one hoof was locked half of a pair of handcuffs. In the other hoof rested the end of the large chain. The creature screamed, “You’re mine, you bastard! Get back here!” The handcuffed hoof went flying toward the terrified stallion.

Just before it made contact, Brawny was jerked from his paralyzed position and pulled up one step. His wife delivered a firm hoof to the side of his face and groaned, “Are you dumb, Brawny? You just gonna let that thing take you from me?” She took a firm hold of his hoof and hurriedly climbed back up the tower.

Brawny, uncertain of just why his wife was so calm, followed closely behind her as she climbed the tower. After a few dozen more steps and a few hostile attacks from the demon, he was tired of being dragged behind the mare he was supposed to be guiding.

He firmly planted his hooves on his current block and scoffed, “Ain’t I supposed to be helping you, darling? Looks like you’re doing all the work here…” The mare smirked slyly and let go of his hoof.

She laughed, “If you wanna take point, be my guest, big fella.” She waved a hoof at the steps beside them and bowed.

Brawny grumbled, “Why thank you, mistress… C’mon.” He climbed a few blocks before coming to a nice split in the tower. They were faced with six blocks on either side of a two-block gap.

He started to climb up the blocks on the left side of the gap, but was stopped when Starlight interjected. She giggled, “You shouldn’t go up there, dear. It’s a trap.”

He groaned, “How the hell can you tell? Got some secret sixth sense I don’t know about?” He continued climbing up a few steps.

She shrugged her shoulders and scoffed, “I’m warning ya, don’t go up there.”

Brawny ignored her warnings and climbed up another step. A loud clicking sound echoed and a sizzling sound started to ring out. He quickly looked down at his current block to see it flashing a red color with a spark following the edge of the block. Without hesitation, he immediately turned back around and ran down the steps until he was level with his wife.

Within a few seconds of reaching her, the block exploded, and the blocks around it crumbled into dust. Starlight laughed, “I told you. That block was different from the rest. It had a blue center. You shoulda listened. Now we’ve lost precious time. Let’s go.” She started up the right side of the steps and climbed faster than before, trying to outrun the demon that was catching up to them.

Brawny shamefully followed behind his wife, wishing that she wasn’t always right. The two continued up the tower until they had just about reached the landing. Starlight stopped for a minute to catch her breath and let Brawny catch up to her. He stopped by her side and waited for her to get ready for the remainder of the climb. The two ponies shared happy smiles.

“This is just about the first time since we got married that we’ve done anything exciting together… Why don’t we anymore?” Starlight sighed as she rested on the block.

Her husband clapped his hooves and chuckled, “Because you won’t untie my leash, you old hag.”

She giggled, “That’s right. You know, all things considered, you’re a pretty good pet.”

“Just shut up and let’s get going. This place is giving me the creeps.”

“You sure it’s the place? Maybe I’m just good like that…” She winked at him and gave him a nudge in the side with an elbow. She hopped up to her hooves and started her climb up the next step.

Brawny let out a hearty laugh and followed her. Before long, the two of them were staring at the glowing altar on the landing at the very top of the tower. The demon reached up over the edge of the landing and tossed its chain at them. A beam of light from the altar shattered the chain and pierced the demon right through the chest. It completely burst into dust and spread throughout the nightmarish void.

The mysterious voice couldn’t hide its amazement as it said, “Color me impressed, Brawny Soldier. You and your wife very easily conquered your demons and reached the end of the nightmare. I assume you learned your lesson, correct?”

Brawny scoffed at the voice, “Of course I did, ya bastard! Now send us home so we don’t get frostbite.”

The two ponies shared a loving kiss as the white light’s warmth swallowed them.

Brawny Soldier was a stallion that had lived his entire life with the same old process. He would wake up, get suited up, head to his post, and keep watch all day. Then he would go back to the barracks, remove his armor, and head home to spend time with his family. After he got married, his life became a boring rut. He was tired of the rut. All he wanted was to be free from the proverbial shackles of his personal and professional lives. His Cathedral showed him that his shackles were just a figment of his once-wild life’s dreams. He found that he was actually happy under his wife’s watchful eye. After all, she had saved his life with her constant nagging during their climb…

Comments

[Quad Ruple]

Wow... I don't know if I should hate her or not.

[Shadowed Rainbow]

On the one hoof, Starlight was a bit of a jerk, but on the other she did help out Brawny...

Regardless, they're both out and happy so all is well.

[Project-47]

What a bitch, should have been introduced too the depths of hell