Saving Their Souls

by Clever Name

7: Liars

After Celestia had told us that I would be gone for a while I decided to take Miranda out on a date. Our very first one. Our relationship never had an official start, I was only a house guest all that time ago when I first met her. Then we became friends, then I was her trusted friend, then I was her shoulder to cry on. One day she came home crying and she ran up to me as soon as she saw me, I cheered her up the best I could. I guess I did a good job, because the next thing I knew she was kissing me.

After that, I don't know... I always thought she was good looking, okay she was gorgeous, but I never admitted it to myself. I was afraid of ruining our relationship and whatnot, luckily she wasn't. We mostly kept to ourselves, I didn't want my father finding out otherwise... Well you know what happened. A few friends figured it out and they helped us stay under his radar. As for what we did after I killed him in front of everybody, we never went anywhere, we just stayed by each others side and we were happy. Then again where would we have gone on dates? It's not like we could have left the Clan without being torn to pieces.

Now that we're here I decided to use the opportunity and give her the kind of date she deserved. We were just walking out of the diner now.

"That was wonderful, we should do this more often." She said, a happy smile on her lips.

"I would love to." I said with a smile not unlike hers. I wish I could hold her hand now, there was still a few problems with us being different species. So I had to settle with her smiling at me.

We just walked together for a while, neither of us knew where. But as long as we were together it really didn't matter. We had just come out of the park and on our way home when a Pony yelled at us.

"What's the matter? No stallion would take you so you had to get one of those hairless apes?!" He shouted.

I turned to the voice, there was three Ponies, all Pegasi. One brown with a tan mane, one a dull orange with a brown mane, and one gray with a black mane. Weren't those the same three that bullied Rainbow Dash? If so this was going to get ugly. I'm guessing the one that had spoken was the grinning brown one standing in front of the snickering other two.

Miranda moved to speak but I beat her to it. "Guys just go on your way, we're having a nice night and you don't need to ruin it." The real reason they were still breathing normally was because Miranda was with me, she makes me significantly less violent.

Unfortunately for them they weren't stopping. "Aw, you having a nice time while she takes you for a walk? Why don't you go eat a banana and we show her a real good time?" The brown one continued.

I glanced behind me and Miranda shook her head. Damn. "I don't want to start anything so you leave now and no one will get hurt."

I saw a twinkle in his eye. "What? We wont rough her up too bad... But she might be walking funny in the morning." His friends burst out laughing.

I grit my teeth, no one had ever talked about her like that and walked away. I looked at Miranda. She was blushing uncontrollably and stepped back awkwardly. I mouthed 'please?' to her. She shook her head quickly and gestured that we leave. I nodded and walked up to her.

"What? Can't handle three at a time or are you just that picky of a whore?"

I stopped and clenched my fists. The one person that had called her that had been thrown in with the garbage after being killed in front of all of his 'servants' by his own son. I barley made eye contact with Miranda when she whispered to me. "Just, don't put them in extreme care."

With an evil grin I ran at the trio of Ponies.

---

"AH! STOP!"

"I want you to apologize to her."

"For what?" The brown Pony said with a bloodied mouth.

I smashed his face against the pathway again. "Ask again and I'll break something that isn't already broken." I growled.

"Arg, fine! I'm sorry!" He spat.

I twisted his hoof behind him. "For what?"

"For calling you a whore!" He screamed painfully.

"Say it nicely..."

"Really? I already I said I was-" I cut him off by twisting his hoof further. "Okay! Okay!" He took a deep breath and spoke as evenly as he could. "I'm sorry that I called you a whore."

"How sorry?" I had to make sure that my message had gotten through after all.

"Very, very, very sorry!"

"Do you still think she's a whore?"

"NO! I think she's the most beautiful and wonderful Mare in all of Equestria and should be thankful to have such a strong Human to protect her."

I figured that was enough and I let go of him. "If you ever so much as give her a funny look you'll be wishing you were on the moon just to get away from me when I'm done with you."

He nodded his head vigorously. "Yes sir." Then he flew off sideways with his bruised friends in tow.

I turned to Miranda. "You let me know if they ever give you trouble again."

She only smiled. "I think breaking his leg was a bit excessive."

I shrugged. "That was more to vent some anger, but it made him get the point."

She laughed and nudged me with a hoof. "Then what was the tree for?"

I smiled. "Personal entertainment."

She shook her head. "I didn't know a Pony could make those sounds."

"Well I'll admit I might be a little more than upset when someone calls you a whore."

"Are you sure you're not overprotective?"

"Well I think any guy with a girl half as amazing as you would want to make sure that she's never hurt and happy."

She smiled warmly and flew up to me. "You're too good to me you know that?"

I held her in my arms. "Would you like me to stop?"

"Never." She moved in and kissed me.

---

"Okay, do you have everything?"

I smiled, Miranda never fully understood that I was more than capable of handling myself. "Yes, I'm sure." We were just outside the Everfree Forest and Miranda and Eddie were seeing me off.

She frowned. "Okay be safe."

I lifted her up and cradled her in my arms, judging by her look she was really starting to like it. "You worry too much."

She poked me with a hoof. "Just making sure you're nice and safe when you go in there."

I kissed her. "Nothing has killed me yet, I doubt anything that will is in those woods."

She didn't seem to happy about me leaving her so soon.

"Tell you what, when this is all over I'll take you on another date. This time we'll watch the stars on a cloud."

She smiled at the thought. "Promise?"

I smiled back at her. "Promise."

---

I readjusted the strap on my backpack after I landed on the ground. We were deep in the Everfree now, deeper than anypony else had every gone. Spare the search party we're looking for. Celestia had just given us our nine hour heads up, which meant we would still be hiking for another half hour. It felt good to have the Guard strapped across my back again, it might have been even better if I was wearing my helmet too. But that defiantly would have made me slip. So far Mentor had kept a great job of keeping out my blood lust.

It was dark in the forest, I didn't really know what time it was and I could hardly see in front of me. Brian and Vinnie were leading the way while I stayed a couple feet behind just in case they were jumped. We had met a few obstacles but nothing serious, a cliff, a couple Manticores, and other creatures I didn't know the names of. Over all, nothing we couldn't handle.

I stumbled over a tree root and cursed under my breath. This forest was really getting on my nerves. I heard some rustling noises ahead a stopped. I crossed my arms and waited. It took a minute but eventually I heard a dying sqwak. It must have been another Cockatrice. We were all much more effective with our old weapons, I can't believe how long it took us to finally dig them back out.

I kicked a rock and heard a growl next to me. It seemed like we were under constant attack in here. I decided my friends would wait up for me and grasped the Guard. A branch broke. I flicked out a blade and I threw it in that direction. There was a pained cry but no other sounds followed, I went over and plucked the Guard from a Manticore's corpse. That must have at least the seventh one in the past hour. I flicked the blade back in and decided to play with the Guard while I walked.

I merely tossed it in my hand and various blades sprung from in then back in. I let out a yawn.

You used to really like marching towards the enemy.

I shrugged. "It's not as fun when you can't see them or don't know what they are."

That and you're by yourself.

"I got Brian and Vinnie don't I?"

Yeah but it's not the same with them is it? Remember that one time that you all had a lot to drink before a fight and you were all singing happily while marching to the bloody battle that was already in full swing? Someone had even brought a stereo for the music.

***

"Okay ready?! One... Two... Three!"

"Yo, I'll tell you what I want! What I really really want!"

"So tell me what you want! What you really really want!"

"I'll tell you what I want! what I really really want!"

"So tell me what you want! What you really really want!"

"I wanna-"

"Huh!"

"I wanna-"

"Huh!"

"I wanna-"

"Huh!"

"I wanna-"

"Huh!"

"I wanna really really really wanna zig-a-zig-ah!"

"If you want my future, forget my past!"

"If you wanna get with me, better make it fast!"

"Now don't go wasting, my precious time!"

"Get your act together, we could be just fine!"

"I'll tell you what I want! What I really really want!"

"So tell me what you want! What you really really want!"

"I wanna-"

"Huh!"

"I wanna-"

"Huh!"

"I wanna-"

"Huh!"

"I wanna-"

"Huh!"

"I wanna really really really wanna zig-a-zig-ah!"

"IF YOU WANNA BE MY LOVER! THEN YOU GOTTA GET WITH MY FRIENDS!"

"Gotta get with my friends-"

"What the fuck?"

"Kill them!"

"HAHAHAHA!"

***

I barked a laugh. "That just may have been one of our best moments."

He laughed along with me. That might have been my favorite battle with you.

I heard Brian shush me up ahead and stopped laughing. Know the best part about that fight?

"I think I do." I replied with a grin.

Not single one of you returned with more than a scratch.

"Well that happened a lot actually."

From that point on you were the most feared force in the darkness.

I cringed. "That's what scared them and got them to attack."

Bah, it's not a problem. A lot more survived than you would think.

"Really? How would you know that?"

When we fight you pay attention to the enemies and I pay attention to everything else. During the Bloodbath I was paying attention to Dagger taking some guys gun and use it against them, then he made sure everyone was out before him.

I grinned. "Sounds just like him. So how many do you think are left?"

Maybe enough to say an army.

I was shocked. "But we lost so many."

It's been two years, they rebuilt. I know it and you should too.

"Yes, you're right, I'm sure that they've all rebuilt now. I just hope they're not getting ready for round two."

~(forty minutes later)~

I'll be honest, I'm a liar, a bad one, a really, really, really bad liar. Not that I can't lie, I'm actually really good at it. I just lie a lot. I used to think I had a good reason for it, looking back now I don't think so. I've lied to a lot of people and Ponies alike. Brian, Vinnie, Celestia, Luna, all of the Elements of Harmony, myself, Mentor, Miranda, Eddie, everyone back at the Corner of Equestria. The list goes on and on.

I'm a deceiver too, I've blinded just as many people and Ponies. I'm not sure anybody really knows who I am. maybe I don't even know who I am.

It's funny... I used to mock others for sneaking, for not meeting their challenges head on 'like a man'. But now... I'm the one tricking everyone, fooling everyone, lying, sneaking, hiding. I've become the kind of person I would mock before I would cut him down.

For what?

Heh, that's the big question isn't it? What's the point? Why fight for ashes? What am I even doing? I bet you want to know a lot of things right now, what I've lied about and how little is actually true. Why I should be trusted. Well I can't okay? I shouldn't even be alive. Until I came to Equestria I was suicidal after the Bloodbath. I lied about the first thing I told you. Remember the fight between me and the cannibals in the begging? Vinnie never stole my guns, I left them there. I did often, hoping that some brain-dead psycho in the darkness would finally get a lucky hit and put me out of my misery.

But no. I had to live with my lies, my trickery. I had to look into the distance before I slept and think about what I left behind, what were they doing? Did they remember me? Would they forgive me? Why wasn't I there with them?

Too late for that now, Vinnie and Brian have dropped their masks, never to be picked up again. They're not the Vinnie and Brian you know anymore.

They're the Shadow and Bulls-Eye that I know. They're liars, they're deceivers, and they're sneaks. All for selfish reasons, I was protecting the remains of my Clan. These two... I wont call them men, they're something worse, much worse. They're scum, evil scum that I should have ended all that time ago. I was a fool, and they tricked me into thinking that they were better now and that they've changed.

They were lying to my face the entire time, I've lied I'm not ashamed of it anymore. But I was truthful to them when it came to the Bloodbath. I admit that I've lied and tricked even more than them. But I never hurt anyone. But right now I was seriously considering redoing the entire Bloodbath on everyone out there as soon as I get out of here.

I tested the walls of my metal prison cell once more. They didn't budge, these guys could make stuff a lot better now than they could all that time ago. I was trapped.

Brian and Vinnie have been lying too, maybe not as much or as badly. But I thought I was helping people, they were well and truly selfish. They were only protecting themselves. From what? Me.

First I want you to know a little more about the Bloodbath. It wasn't a little attack, or a simple invasion on a village, or even a battle between two gangs. Oh no, it was a war. That's right, a war. It wasn't even a reasonable war, it was personal. No one knows how it exactly started but eventually one Clan attacked another. Then another Clan was pulled into it, then another, then another, and so on.

What's a Clan? You should know what a Tribe is right? A village of people just trying to get by, maybe a couple hundred people in each one yeah? Well a Clan is a city of people. Thousands and thousands of people living together peacefully and prospering beautifully.They don't exist anymore now, out of fear or respect of the Bloodbath or some other reason, I don't know.

As for the time before the Bloodbath. There was many Clans, fifteen to be exact. No tribes, no gangs, everyone belonged somewhere in a Clan. When someone out of the area popped up they found the best Clan for them and got a life there. The Clans didn't mind each other. They respected each other and rarely made contact. I was born into the Clan called the Gladiators. Why was it called the Gladiators? Because my father was a fucking slaver, that's why. It's named changed with almost every new ruler.

When I killed him and the new guy took over we were called the Champions. The Bloodbath was well under way and there was only three tribes left: Champions, Nomads, and Hunters. All the other ones had either been destroyed or joined another Clan to avoid destruction.

Now I'm going to tell you the one thing that changes everything: Remember when I said I still had my old flag in my duffle bag back at the Library? Well so did Brian and Vinnie, now here's the important part.

My flag isn't the same one as Brian or Vinnie's.

~(Twenty minutes earlier.)~

I caught up with Brian and Vinnie who were both crouching down.

"What's up?" I asked, joining in on the crouching.

"What ever it is, it's just ahead of us." Brian said in a rushed whisper. He knew something...

"How do you know?"

"We were just there, you have to see this." Vinnie said. There was something about how he said that...

I sneaked forward and poked my head out of the tree line. I can truthfully say that I was shocked.

It was a massive structure made of metal, defiantly a building for something. It looked new, recently built. I looked all around it and couldn't find anything that told me what it held. What I did see was two flags flying high above it. My blood ran cold as I saw them.

On the right was one with a white mountain and an orange sun behind it. The other was all a dark green with a red target in the middle. I had to make sure that they were real. I rubbed my eyes, still there. I blinked, still there. My eyes darted between the two.

A white mountain and orange sun: The Nomads. A red target with a dark green background: The Hunters. I looked behind me and saw Brian's fist coming at me. I caught his eyes just before I was knocked out, those weren't the eyes of Brian anymore. He was gone now, those were eyes of hatred, eyes of revenge. Those were the eyes of Bulls-Eye, the leader of the Hunters.

~(Five minutes later)~

I woke up when cold water was splashed on my face, I was tied to a chair in a massive room full of people I didn't recognize. But I still knew who they were, these were the Nomads and Hunters. Here in Equestria, the same people that had destroyed my home.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't mister big shot." Vinnie said. But this wasn't Vinnie anymore. His mask wasn't just dropped, it was broken and shattered, never to be picked up again.

"How are they here?!" I demanded, there was no sense in trying to be nice to Vinnie- No, not Vinnie. This was Shadow now, leader of the Nomads.

Brian- I mean Bulls-eye stepped forward. "Well you see, we had a plan." His face was made of anger and he kicked my chair over and I landed on the ground with a thud. "Unlike you dogs." He spat.

I felt myself slip at the ancient insult.

Are you sure it's a good idea to hold it back at this point? They've both returned, I can't find a reason to not return as well.

Patience...

"Your plan was to invade Equestria? I thought you couldn't get any lower after the Bloodbath." I tried, but it was hard to be intimidating when you can't move on the floor.

He barked a laugh. "You fool, we knew that there was an untouched island in the Ocean."

"So what do you plan to do now that you're here?" I asked as I was lifted back into place by some unseen Hunter or Nomad.

Bulls-Eye crossed his arms. "Seeing as how they have the resources and space. I don't see why we should stop our plan. In four days time, Equestria will be ours and we will rule over this land."

"But, what about the Ponies!?" I shouted in half fear.

He chuckled. "What about them? They never die so I don't see why we don't enslave them forever. You see, during the Bloodbath one of our scouting parties overshot your Clan and ended up in what was once called Mexico. Turns out the entire entire country is now submerged underwater. They found a large boat and we got to fixing it. We had all heard rumors of an untouched island, now we had a way to get to it. The only difference is that now we have cartoons as target practice."

I was completely shocked. Even after the Bloodbath this was still horrible by my standards. "How dare you!" A thought crossed my mind. Did you even have a boat?"

"Yes! We had a boat, big enough to fit every Hunter we had into it. More even! But when we tried to push and take your pitiful Clan out of the picture you proved that we underestimated you again. Eventually we had to side with the Nomads, promising them sunlight." He pointed at me with his spear. "All in exchange for your life."

Shadow spoke once again. "After what you did we had to keep a close eye on you, all the while our Clans were setting sail here. The only reason you lived so long was because the boat took longer to fix than we thought."

"Tell yourself what you like, we lived because we had heart. We could have destroyed either of you whenever we wanted to." I announced.

"Then why didn't you?" Bulls-Eye tested.

It was my turn to let out a laugh. "You can't be serious!" They all gave me blank stares. "You mean, you really didn't know..." I sat there in shock in the metal chair, chained up, trying to process this. "YOU IGNORANT FUCKS!" I shouted. "YOU NEVER KNEW WHAT WE WERE DOING!? WE WEREN'T ATTACKING YOU! WE WERE ONLY DEFENDING OURSELVES! WE NEVER WENT PAST THE HALFWAY POINT! HOW THE FUCK DID YOU NOT SEE THAT!"

"You mocked us!" Shadow challenged stepping forward. "You sang and danced and laughed while cutting us down like nothing on the battlefield!"

"WAS THAT A REASON TO SLAUGHTER US ALL IN OUR OWN HOMES?!" I raged.

"YES!" Bulls-Eye yelled, inches from my face. "WE FOUGHT WITH HONOR WHILE YOU TREATED GOOD MEN AS MERE TOYS AND KILLED THEM!"

"HONOR?!" I felt the Blood lust seeping into me. "YOU TALK OF HONOR AFTER WHAT YOU DID?!"

"We-"

"YOU HAVE NO HONOR! YOU BROUGHT THE BLOOD TO MY HOME! YOU KILLED THOSE WHO DIDN'T FIGHT! YOU BUTCHERED MOTHERS IN FRONT OF THEIR CHILDREN! ALL THE WHILE LAUGHING! YOU. HAVE. NO. HONOR!" I was steaming with rage at this point, if it wasn't for the chains holding me down Bulls-Eye and Shadow would only be making dying sounds of mercy.

I cast my eyes around the entire room. "NOW YOU THREATEN MORE DEFENSELESS LIVES! THIS TIME I WILL MAKE GOOD ON MY PROMISE! NONE OF YOU WILL LIVE!"

I kept shouting insults, threats, and promises at the top of my lungs as I was dragged by two Nomads into a holding cell.

~(Now)~

I stopped hitting the walls and slumped down to the floor.

I processed everything that had happened. 'Brian' and 'Vinnie' were lying to me the entire time. They were with me the same reason I was with them, to make sure they didn't know what I was planning. I never could have guessed they were planning on enslaving all of Equestria. I had to stop them.

After all, I still had a date with Miranda. I looked around my surroundings. Nothing but dark metal greeted me. I kicked the wall again in frustration. I had every reason to be mad.

I've lied to protect them, I can't believe I did. I should have aimed the spear a little higher back when we first arrived in Equestria. So many things I should have done but didn't, not anymore. I'm done hiding, I have to fix everything that I had broken.

I was lucky enough to still have the Guard with me, not that it was doing me any good right now.

"Those mother fuckers!" I yelled, kicking the metal wall.

There is a way out of here.

"I know! But I have to be smart right now, I have to think, I have to plan."

That's not the Champion I know talking...

"Yeah well!." I kicked the wall yet again. "Your Champion got us all stuck in a box!"

He can also get us all out.

"But what after?!"

Think then, I will let you plan. When you know what to do, well, you know where to find me.

I sighed and put my head in my hands. "What have I done?" I asked the nothingness as I remembered what I did to start all this. This time I embraced my memory, just as Mentor had told me too.

***

I was stuck in the wall by Bulls-Eye's spear, the one that no one had survived from tearing out. Fueled by rage of just killing my only love I gripped the shaft of the weapon and ripped it out of me. It hurt, badly. But I was free, and now... I was going to spill blood.

I was chasing the two leaders through the battlefield, back to their Clans. When I broke through their walls I began to tear apart anyone in my way, regardless of whether they were fighting back or not. I had just chased them around a corner.

"WHERE ARE YOU?!" I shouted into the dark alleyway.

"Shit! Run run run!" I heard one of them yell.

"Fuck! How did he get out?"

"Doesn't matter, just run!"

I followed their voices and ran into a group of Hunters. "NONE OF YOU WILL SURVIVE THIS!" I shouted at them. I was killing two Clans all by myself, I was worse than the two I was chasing. But I was fueled by hatred so I kept going.

At one point I lost them completely so I crashed through one of the weaker buildings a grabbed a man hiding in it. "THERE YOU ARE!" I screamed at him.

"No, no. Please!" He begged.

"WHERE ARE THEY?!" I demanded, lifting him off his feet by his neck.

"They're in the armory! Please just let me- Ack!" I silenced his pleas by snapping his neck.

I broke through another wall, into the street. "COME OUT AND FIGHT ME!" I shouted at the armory building.

Multiple men came out with Shadow and Bulls-Eye behind them. "There he is! get him!" They ordered.

"YOU WILL ALL DIE HERE!" I promised them.

I cut the fighters down and their leaders fled. I gave chase and caught up with them in another building. Just before I struck them down for good the roof collapsed. All of us were hit in the head, giving us all temporary memory loss. We didn't know each other so we made friends and left. When our memory came back we all promised to bury our past and build a new future.

When I had told Mentor that they were long gone when I woke up after the roof collapsed, I had lied... Again.

***

Some might say it was only pay back, others that I wasn't thinking clearly, that I had no right. Who am I to deiced what's wrong and right?. Personally, I don't know... I've just felt so wrong ever since. I can't say that I regret it, they might have deserved it, they might have just been doing what they thought was right... Just like I was. Or was I just repeating what they did to me?

NO.

"What?"

It was not a repeat, they did it because they're sick fucks and got pleasure out of it. You did it because you were just forced to kill the only girl you ever loved and your harmless baby brother, after watching almost everybody you ever knew die in the worst ways they could think of.

"But-"

No buts, they destroyed your home. You only (severely) damaged theirs, and now they only want to destroy more. You've suffered more than anyone has a right to, and it's made you strong. Stronger than both of them combined. You've gone through too much to let it end here.

I stood up. "You're right, I can't let them do any more harm to innocent lives."

Damn straight, now how are you going to get out of here?

I flashed my signature toothy grin, the one I only put on before a bloody fight. "I'm going to show them exactly what two years of pent up blood lust can do."

Now that's the Champion everyone knows and loves.

"Mentor, I need a favor."

Anything.

I kicked the wall once more, putting a large dent in it. "Drop the mask, today we stop lying. Today, we become the Champion we once were."

A/N: Okay, okay. I know the chapters have been getting shorter, but I had to stop this one here. Don't worry though, the next few chapters are where it gets exciting!

Comments

[High_Wind]

files.sharenator.com/naughty_memes_shit_just_got_real-s500x357-175800.jpg

[the Joyless1]

shit is about to get serious

[Fireeaters]

The brewing shitstorm has arrived!